Trying to find ways to celebrate people and accomplishments at the school, “positive shout outs” have become a huge hit with both students and staff. The “shout outs” have garnered lots of attention since its release on January 11th with countless people submitting their positive shout out every week as people have enjoyed the opportunity to recognize the great things that people have been doing in each other’s lives at school.
Principal Panjabi first came up with the idea after a WASC analysis showed that the school was focusing much more on the negatives compared to anything positive. To flip this, Mr.Panjabi decided to implement this positive shout out after he heard a colleague mention the school that they used to work with had positive shout outs.
Mr. Panjabi said, “My hope is in this weekly process, we would end up having people to feel good about being here, doing the work they are doing, and feeling recognized.”
In order to post these “shout outs”, every Thursday, Mr. Panjabi sends a form for people to submit their positive shoutout and those positive shout outs; he then posts this list every Monday for people to see the latest positive shout outs. So far, there has been an average of about 25 positive shoutouts per week.
Most students and staff have really enjoyed the opportunity to appreciate others, as well as be appreciated by someone else. 10th grader Augusto B. said, “I think they are pretty nice, I’ve only read a few of them but I felt pretty good reading them and thought that there are a lot of positive energy coming out of it. It was good to see positive things being said around the school.” Assistant principal, Mr. Flores added, “it creates a positive atmosphere and overall a good working environment…(and) that recognition is a good driver to excellence.”
“I think it’s nice to give compliments to people, especially if you’re not trying to get anything from them. I think it’s just nice to just tell people how much you appreciate them even if not necessarily publicly reciprocated. I think lots of people, even if they don’t require validation, appreciate validation so that’s why I like to give them,” said English teacher, Ms.Gates
However, with all that’s being said, some people would like to see more improvements, as 10th grader Madeline S. said, “it could be improved if they promoted it better.”
