Rachel Brown
Raider Seven
Work hard.
Play fair.
Dream big.
Make a difference.
Be proud of who you are.
Make wise decisions.
Have a great day!
Yesencia Salaises says walking down the green carpet is a lot of fun.
The fifth-grade Valley Point Elementary School student was among the first round of well-behaved exemplars honored in the school’s new Ride the Wave program and participated in a presentation at a Whitfield County Board of Education work session at the school on Monday.
Ride the Wave is a behavioral program tailored to the school and designed to incorporate the Raider Seven — Southeast High School’s official set of character traits that include “Play fair” and “Make a difference.”
Principal Karey Williams said the school hopes to honor each of its roughly 525 students before the end of the year. Teachers select three to four pupils from their classrooms each month based on whether they have good attitudes and are well-behaved. Teachers take one of the Raider Seven sayings each month and emphasize that particular character trait throughout the month. The winners get to walk down a green carpet during a monthly school-wide assembly, then have their names and photographs placed on a wall that bears a mural of a green wave.
“The students on the Wave Wall are getting on the Wave Wall by choosing to work hard and have a good attitude,” said fifth-grader Ally Bennett.
Jennifer Hopkins, a recent Southeast High graduate, painted the mural. Some 16 people at the school designed the behavior program, Williams said.
Also at the meeting, construction management company M.B. Kahn representatives recommended architects for planned projects at the Whitfield Career Academy and Eastbrook Middle School. They recommended the board spend $75,000 for work from Carlson Jones and $45,000 for work from Perkins and Will.
The contracts are for design work and suggestions. The board is considering whether it would be better to address structural and infrastructure issues at Eastbrook Middle School by rebuilding, partially rebuilding or renovating it. They’re also looking to add a gymnasium to the Career Academy. Board members are expected to vote on the contracts at their Dec. 7 meeting.
