By Joseph Langley and Autumn Pecarovich
Here at Minarets, we recognize our student's achievement daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly. For the monthly portion of this structure, the recognition system used is called Wagon Wheel. On a rally on March 1, 2019, seven exemplary students were recognized by this system!
Wagon Wheel is a fairly new idea, so it is still not very well known. In order to learn about the topic, and understand the process, we interviewed Principal Daniel Ching, who said; “The idea is that each teacher gets five Wagon Wheel slips that they can give out to students each month. They’re supposed to say things like: ‘great job, today!’, ‘You respect the tech!’, or ‘You post positively on social media!’, and then tell the student to fill out the Wagon Wheel form and put it in the box each teacher has in their classroom. That way, every student knows who is getting recognized, and why they are getting recognized. First, the student is publicly recognized, and then they have a chance to win a gift card.”
Principal Ching then went on to talk about the origin of Wagon Wheel, saying; “Myself, Mr. Hansen, Mr. Regonini, Ms. Morgan, Ms. Chacon, and Ms. V came up with this idea of Wagon Wheel. We started at the end of the year in 2018, so this is the first full year that it has been in effect.”
Principal Ching then talked about the process of making this idea come to life, “First, I have to get the gift cards ready to give out. In order to buy them, I have to get it approved by ASB, so I often don’t get the gift cards until right before the students spin the wheel. This leads to another complication, which is that it takes so long to actually spin the wheel and see who is chosen. The first time we did it, I just announced it outside the gym at lunch and there wasn't really a big crowd. We then decided to have the students recognized at rallies. That had its own problems though, because like I said the process takes a long time. It's really boring for everybody. We're trying to figure out a way to do it where there's a lot of people around, and it’s still time efficient.”
He also talked about some of the other struggles with the system; “The wagon wheel is the hardest to keep up with because it's monthly. We have to get gift cards frequently, and the teachers have to turn in the tickets. I get behind the curve on sending the teacher assistants to go and collect the boxes. It’s a long process to do because there’s an individual key for each teacher’s box. We have to go through every classroom, unlock the boxes, and write down the names inside.” He then spoke about the troubles that come with the actual wheel, “Some of those pegs fell off. I've only used it twice. I feel like if we don't keep using that wheel, it will just become one of those traditions that makes people wonder, ‘why is it called wagon wheel?’”
Those issues are not without a fix though, and Principal Ching spoke about some of those possible solutions, “I think ultimately I probably need somebody else to be in charge of it. And then I just announce the names-- because it's really hard to keep up. An activities director would be a good idea, but it could even be the ASB officers. Getting students involved in recognizing their peers is a good idea.”
Student recognition is always needed for keeping school spirit flying high, and Minarets has always been a great example of a school with a positive, strong spirit. The Wagon Wheel is one of the many systems here in place that recognizes students. As it is a new idea, it will require some time to be perfected and honed, but it is already giving many students the positive recognition that they deserve, and will continue doing so more and more as the years go by. Hard work and dedication is highly valued here at Minarets, but more than any value and recognition, strive to be the best you can be for yourself. The future is your future, and the more effort you put in, the more you will get back.