Mallory Taylor speaking on behalf of House Excellentia.
The administration at Paulding High School has been working hard the last several years to increase and motivate the young people to excel in school with attitude and academics. This year the community had the opportunity to check in on the progress of the new plan. Guess what? It worked great! The Paulding school invited area supporters to the “Giving Dinner” to show off all that has happened since embarking on this new found project.
Principal Todd Harmon had went with several other teachers to conferences and learned quite a bit on the motivation of the students. They call this new set up “The Four Houses.” The names of the four houses are the following: Palmarium, Excellentia, Vinco Vici Victum, and Stupendum. Each one is based similar to the four houses in the Harry Potter world.
Earlier in the year, the Dominion Trials took place where the four houses competed against Hicksville School’s house, who is also helping their students with the friendly competitions of the houses.
The Houses of Paulding (similar to the Harry Potter books and modeled by the Ron Clark Academy) have taken time each month for assemblies that promote friendly competitions to earn points, community service, grades, attendance, etc. gain points while behavior can subtract points. At the end of the set time periods the awards are given to the students such as tickets to Cedar Point.
Mr. Harmon presented flow charts to the crowd of the increased performance by students since this program has been installed at the school. There is increased grades, grade point averages, lower discipline problems and stronger student solidarity.
The Giving Dinner began with a piano prelude from a Paulding student which was very good! While the entertainment was taking place, there was a full dinner served by Grant’s Catering. Several students came up to the podium to speak as to how the program got started and all that has happened in the last three years since it started.
Later that night, the kids participated in some games, one being Family Feud, and many of the area business men and women were there participating also.
It was a treat of a night and it really demonstrated how a program such as this has worked well for the school. Performance increases and the students becoming willfully involved has been good for the whole school! Great job Principal Harmon and all the faculty at Paulding School for doing such a good job with the students.
