Three cards, one student, and all had the same message.  Junior Anayah Hurley recently received her third P.R.I.D.E card complimenting, once again, her positive attitude.  

“It makes me feel like I’m doing the right thing,” she said.

According to Sarah Detrick, English teacher and pride coordinator, the P.R.I.D.E program is for recognizing students who exhibit the five core traits of Westerville South. The five traits make up the P.R.I.D.E acronym and they are perseverance, respect, integrity, dependability, and encouragement.

“It’s an awesome way to reward kids for doing the right thing,” Dustin Few, science teacher, said.

When a student is recognized for one of these traits, they are given a P.R.I.D.E card by an administrator or teacher. P.R.I.D.E cards can then be redeemed for prizes at lunch on Wednesdays. One card earns students a pencil, three cards earn students a pair of sunglasses, and six cards earn students a t-shirt. 

This school year the top ticket winners will be awarded with an end of the year party. As this award is new, neither the amount of P.R.I.D.E cards needed, nor the number of students going, is concrete, according to Detrick.

The cards are tracked as they are turned in, so they don’t need to be saved up. “By the time you save up to six, you have already earned the other two levels,” Detrick said.

Several students said that they have never gotten a P.R.I.D.E card. “In the classes I’ve been in very few P.R.I.D.E cards have been given out,” said Jillian Dosky, senior. “I believe the problem lies with the frequency they’re given, which is barely any at all,” said Gerick Sembrano, senior.

“It would be nice to see teachers give out a pride card everyday,” said Detrick. “If more people participate in giving out P.R.I.D.E cards, more people will be motivated to do good things,” Dosky said.

Getting P.R.I.D.E cards can be a reward themselves. “I believe more of the reward lies in receiving a P.R.I.D.E. card. Receiving these more often would better shape behavior than if they were rarely given out,” Sembrano said.

Few said, “I think that the more they are given out the more kids realize that doing the right thing is noticed.” “We want the students to know we see them,” said Michael Hinze, principal of Westerville South.

“Students get excited to turn [P.R.I.D.E cards] in, even if it’s just a pencil,” said Dennis Lackey, a science teachers at South. Lackey is in charge of the P.R.I.D.E cart during 6/7 lunch and finds it very enjoyable.

While staff at South could fill out more P.R.I.D.E cards, what they already fill out is nothing to scoff at. Thousands of tickets have been awarded, according to Detrick. Hinze said some teachers fill out a hundred in a semester.

That number will likely go up as more teachers get involved. Few said he thinks P.R.I.D.E cards are gaining momentum.

 “Lots more teachers are using them compared to last year,” Lackey said. “We have had lots of improvement from last year. More students know about it and more teachers do it.” Lackey said he hopes this trend continues into the future.