How are you showing your Commons Cents? After infamous bouts of carrot throwing in the past and other bad behavior, the Commons area has often been an inhospitable place to be when you want to go and talk to friends or do homework. In order to combat these behaviors and to make the Commons a welcoming place to hang out, the Williamsville East Shared Decision Making Team has created a new initiative to promote good behavior and respect in the area. Called “Commons Courtesy,” the program doles out “Commons Cents” or $1 gift certificates to students seen doing good deeds such as pushing in their chair or including another student at their table by a lunch monitor, student council homeroom representative, class officer, or student council office. Whoever sees this good deed will fill out a form that they can receive from Mrs. Faracca in the athletic office and give the form to the student who performed the act of good character, who can bring it back to Mrs. Faracca to redeem his or her reward. This will be exchanged for a dollar gift certificate which can be used at the school store at any time.
The program began in mid-October after being presented to East’s Student Council in one of their first meetings. Mrs. Mahaney’s Ad and Media class designed table tents and a banner that currently hangs in the Commons; unfortunately, students ripped apart several of the table tents upon their release. The program has been publicized recently on the announcements, but many students are still unaware about what the program entails. Puja Sasankan, a freshman, stated that “a lot of people don’t know what Commons Courtesy is or have forgotten about it because none of their friends have received any.” She also said that she hasn’t seen any students being recognized during her free periods; however, this may be due to the times that our officers and homeroom representatives have free periods. The year isn’t even halfway over, though, and there are a lot more chances to show your character in the Commons, no matter how small of an act of kindness you perform!
If you want more information about Commons Courtesy, you should watch the video that students created about the program that can be found on the WITS homepage or check out the display case in front of the guidance office where recipients of Commons Cents are posted weekly.
