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Rewarding Behavior

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By JOSE PATINO GIRONA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 15, 2007

TAMPA - It was a shopping extravaganza.

Not at a chic mall, but in a converted area of Jefferson High School's gymnasium, where tables were filled with gift cards, movie passes, jewelry, flat irons, purses, makeup bags, University of Florida, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jefferson High shirts, footballs, basketballs and candy.

The big ticket items: four iPods and a $500 32-inch plasma television.

The 97 students at Tuesday's shopping spree - called Dragon's Lair in honor of the school's mascot - were giddy, nervous and excited. Their names were drawn randomly from 600 students who have shown respect, honor, service, and educational and personal development throughout the first semester.

The students were given tokens in order to make purchases; they also could use tokens to enter a drawing for an iPod or the television. Jefferson bought the items with donations from Target and International Plaza, which is renting the school's parking lot during the holidays.

The goal is to recognize the students and let them know someone cares, said Principal Daniel Bonilla, who helped create the event this year at Jefferson, 4401 W. Cypress St., and held a similar program while he headed Leto High.

"You are touching the future here," Bonilla said. "This is the future. From this comes out a lot of good. If you put out good, good returns."

In about 10 minutes, Symone Watts had spent all of her tokens on a hair dryer, gift cards valued at $50 and four movie passes.

"This is amazing," said Watts, an 18-year-old senior.

"There are a lot of kids who don't make it academically, but they are still good kids," said Watts, of Tampa. "They follow all the rules and do their homework and respect the teachers."

Senior Jessica Bronson didn't gamble on an iPod or television. She didn't think she had the luck to win.

Instead, she bought bubble bath for her mother and a Buccaneers shirt for her father.

"They reward people for doing good deeds," said Bronson, 17, of Tampa.

Her friend Paola Guerrero of Tampa wanted to shop, too. She bought bubble bath for her sister and two Discover gift cards valued at $50.

Like other students, she called the incentive program appealing.

"It motivates the students to go above and beyond," said Guerrero, a 17-year-old senior.

Business education teacher Karla Moore said the Dragon's Lair lets students know that teachers and administrators appreciate their good behavior.

"When the students come in and follow the guidelines in your classroom, it's an honor," Moore said. "It lets me know as a teacher they respect the rules we have set."

Junior Kenneth Rosario, 16, said he had been thinking about the plasma TV all week. Rosario, who doesn't have a television in his room, said he had thought about plugging his laptop into the TV to work on PowerPoint presentations, watch movies and fall asleep to the Discovery Channel.

When an administrator called out his numbers, Rosario was surprised but felt he had earned the television for his hard work at school and his dedication to his job at a local hotel where he works the front desk and sets up rooms for banquets.

"This inspired me to keep going with my hospitality career," said Rosario, of Riverview, who has a 3.9 grade-point average. "It is basically saying that I'm not wasting my time studying a lot. It is going to pay off in the future."

Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 835-2110 or jpatino@tampatrib.com.

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