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ALL ABOUT PIZZA
Photo
Cyra Cross, a member of the Principal’s Club, digs into a slice of pizza at the party.
By Jeanne Starmack
campbell
It’s the ultimate motivator. Money? No. Glory? No. Power? No. Pizza? You got it.
Most kids can’t resist those squares of saucy, gooey, savory, cheesy goodness, and the kindergartners who were gathered in the Campbell Elementary School cafeteria Wednesday were no exception.
They were there as esteemed members of the Principal’s Club to be honored for being able to count to 100; print their names, addresses and phone numbers; write the alphabet in upper and lower case; and read a grade-level-appropriate book.
The brainchild of school Principal Robert Walls, the Principal’s Club gives kindergartners the incentive to learn.
But it isn’t really the pizza, Walls said Wednesday as he helped hand out the tempting stuff.
“It’s the medal,” he said. “They love those medals.”
Indeed, the children were wearing bronze-colored medals around their necks, which proved their membership and gained them admittance to the pizza party.
There they sat, content, at long tables with full plates, reaping the privileges of their status.
“I found my medal yesterday,” said Bonnie Prato, 5, between chomps. Was it, however, more important than the pizza? No.
“’Cause I like pizza,” Bonnie said.
It was also the pizza that inspired Caliope Kindinis, 6, she said, more so than the medal.
Sorry Walls, but you were wrong — well, maybe not. To be fair, it was only two kids polled on the fly — hardly a scientific sampling. And Caliope has plans for her medal.
“I’m gonna hang it up in my room this summer,” she said, where it will be there as inspiration long after the pizza is just a memory.
The drive for admittance into the Principal’s Club begins with a discussion of goals, said kindergarten teacher Vicki Tekac.
“We start to talk about it and tell them what the goals are,” she said.
“The parents know, and when they achieve goals, ... it’s a big event,” she continued.
If the children pass their tryouts, the teachers alert Walls, who comes in with the medals and certificates.
“And the other kids see this, and they want it too,” Tekac said.
“By January, we have children that are working very hard,” said kindergarten teacher Maria Koulianos.
At the tryouts this year, 10 children out of the school’s 90 kindergartners passed. By the pizza party, the club was 70 members strong. The remaining 20, said Walls, still have until the end of the year to gain admittance.
“This means that 70 of these kids who are going to first grade are ready for first grade,” he said. “The key is intervention.”
Or is it the pizza?
Joseph Kern, 6, was so motivated to eat his that it didn’t matter if he had all of his teeth. “I lost a tooth a couple of days ago,” he mentioned. But that wasn’t stopping him from chewing.
“I’m gonna have four pieces,” he said. “This is just like a restaurant.”