EXTRINSIC motivation is what Granger’s administration is doing to have more students be thoughtful, empowered and connected. When a students does an action that impresses the teacher, for instance maintaining good  grades or being thoughtful, they are now more likely to be rewarded. The admin are making more of an effort to let students know that with good behavior comes unique rewards.

Granger High administrators have been starting to make their reward system more well-known. Over the years, most students would rarely get many g-cards or honor roll parties, but now it’s becoming used more often and is more apparent.

“Research shows that students do respond with extrinsic motivation, which is part of the incentives. We have a variety of incentives,” Ms. Alo said. Some of these incentives are principal-based, for instance giving honor roll students tacos from a nearby taco truck or giving students a discount off fines when having perfect attendance.

Originally, Granger started out with smaller sized, blue cards that could’ve been used at the G-store. Now, Granger has slightly bigger black cards that have a range of prizes.“The new incentives have actually been around for the past four years. The difference is that the G-cards were based on cash value and now the incentive is based on prize value,” Ms. Alo said.

These new G-cards are called “Lancer Pride” cards and are black. The possible prizes from the Lancer Pride card are: lunch with the principal, Granger swag, free Lancer special events tickets, hall sweep pass, candy bar, 5 minute early release, $1 Off G-store snack bar, and lunch fast pass. When getting a card, all one needs to do is scratch off the gray circle and hope for the best prize.

On average, most students get the candy bar, which you can retrieve from the principal’s secretary whom is right in front of his office. The next ones that are mostly received is the 5 minute release and lunch fast pass. The one that is received the least is lunch with a principal. If one receives this prizes, hold on to it and listen to G-TV to know when the lunch will be.

“My first card was from my AP psych teacher for good grades. At first I was like ‘oh what’s this?’ and she said ‘scratch it’,” Chau Pham (12) said.

Some Lancers feel that these new G-cards are pointless compared to the original ones. “It wasn’t helpful to me and I gave it to someone else who needed it. But other than that, I think that these cards are positive to some people. It has effects on different people,” said Pham.

Another Lancer that feels like this is Jaden Romero (11). “Mr. Gibbons gave it to me when I entered on time for class. I was unexpected, when I scratched it was a candy bar. I think the tiny G-cards worked better than these though. We could’ve used them to buy g-gear and food, using it as currency. But they are can be positive,” Romero said.

However, the G-store couldn’t keep up with the amount of G-cards that were being spent for food more than G-gear. The money lost for food had to be stopped, so G-cards aren’t going to used as currency for now.

Although, the other half of Lancers are looking on the bright side of these new G-cards.

“I had all A’s for the whole of semester for Reading Fundamentals and another for perfect attendance. I won a candy bar. I feel like its a good reward for kids because it will encouraged them to do better. In my opinion it’s a good prize,” Elijum Tima (9).

Another incentive that Lancers are given is VIP Jazz Tickets. “Community members or corporations would send us tickets and then we would ask the teachers if a students behavior or achievement would possibly qualify for a Jazz ticket, ” Ms. Alo said.

While this opportunity isn’t given as often, it is a once in a lifetime experience for Granger Lancers. The administration hopes that Lancers will become more thoughtful, empowered, and connected with a improved and more well-known reward system.