Innovation Academy Charter School: Motivating Middle Schoolers With Food and Fun
08/01/2008
Motivating middle schoolers to collect Box Tops can be challenging, but longtime coordinators Kate Torres and Janet Morris know just how to do it, staging contests that pit classes against each other and rewarding the winners with slushy or other fun food parties.
At Innovation Academy Charter School, classes are the school’s 12 “home bases,” or homerooms, each named for an inspiring innovator, a school tradition that helps build class identity and team spirit. The school runs a contest every other month and Kate estimates that each one brings in over $400 in Box Tops. Results are posted prominently in hallways so students always know who’s ahead and who’s playing catch-up.
She notes that while elementary kids love to win small individual prizes like pencils or wristbands, older students prefer team competition and more substantial rewards. First, Second and Third Place classes also get a traveling mascot for their homebase until the next contest.
To keep Box Tops top of mind with parents, Kate sends a notice home in bi-weekly Community Association newsletters at the start of each contest and again closer to the end to drive last-minute collections. She also makes sure to send home lots of collection sheets, so she rarely has to count or bundle individual Box Tops. Students are often involved in the submission process too. “My philosophy is to let the kids do as much of the work as possible!” says Kate.
This year, Kate plans to work on encouraging her school’s families to shop the Box Tops Marketplace, an area of great untapped potential. “I shop through the Marketplace whenever I can,” she says. “Last year, just the purchases I made earned the school $135—and that’s just me! Multiply that by 120 families, and you can see what’s possible.”