West Middle students awarded badges for their hard work in class
Students at West Middle School are being rewarded for their hard work in the classroom.
Thursday, three special badges were awarded by the Future Ready team. The badges could be earned by students in math, science and reading.
A “Carbon Footprint Badge” was awarded for projects where students determined their own carbon footprint.
A “Climate Warrior Badge” was awarded to students, voted by their peers, for a project about climate change.
Finally, an environment badge went to students that scored well on an environmental project.
Teacher Heather Siepker says the badges help motivate the students in the classroom.
“It also really encourages students who haven’t had the opportunity to maybe show off in the classroom before to really show that maybe they’re the quiet student that sits back, but now they can show hey look I’m doing good things and earning these badges, and it really does help motivate those students,” said Siepker.
Teachers say they are already seeing participation go up since implementing the program.
“It’s pretty cool. I kind of like to show them off to people because I have a lot of them. It helps you get more because you like to see that so you want to see more of it, so you do more work,” said student Zach Lande.
The students are also sharing their projects with other students in the district. They created posters that will be hung at West High School.
They also had the chance of making either a children’s book or comic book for students at Loess Hills Elementary.