REJUVENATION: After a year off, Poly Renaissance makes a comeback.
By Martina Krakora, Staff Writer
Renaissance, a student recognition group on campus, began under Poly’s previous Activities Advisor Mr. Michael Breyer in 2011. It became famous for its birthday cards and cut-outs of hearts, shamrocks, bear paws or graduation caps with students’ names on them, in accordance with the holiday or occasion. The group was designed to support and recognize students for their accomplishments. In 2013, Renaissance took a year off in order to make room for the expansion of Poly’s Associated Student Body (ASB) Program. However, due to scheduling conflicts and increased disorganization as an effect of its expansion, ASB decided to return to its current state. This year, Renaissance came back with a new advisor, Mr. Thomas Podgorski, and new goals for its program.
According to Podgorski, Poly Renaissance was initially formed with the goal of “enhancing the overall atmosphere at Poly High School.” There are three main focuses of this goal: attendance, behavior and academics. In order to accomplish this goal, Renaissance recently came up with two new programs: an attendance incentive program and Random Acts of P.R.I.D.E., an acronym that stands for Passion, Respect, Integrity, Determination and Extraordinary—the qualities that make up a Poly Bear.
Renaissance launched its attendance incentive program on November 3. The program aims to increase student attendance by giving doughnuts to first period classes with perfect attendance for two weeks in a row. If there are multiple classes that meet this attendance requirement, Renaissance will reward three classes drawn at random. If a class has had perfect attendance for two weeks three times and is not chosen to receive doughnuts, that class will have achieved the “Lucky #3” and will then receive doughnuts for their perfect attendance.
Another program that Renaissance plans to implement is Random Acts of P.R.I.D.E. This program asks teachers to nominate students and students to nominate teachers who they believe best exhibit the components of P.R.I.D.E. The nominees are then recognized school wide.
Renaissance also has other ideas for new programs intended to improve the school atmosphere, such as an anti-bullying project, Bear Facts Videos and incentives for cleaning up Poly’s campus. Although these programs are still in the early development stages, David Albarran (11), who was a Renaissance member in its early years and is currently in Renaissance, believes that the new program will “definitely be better than the years before.”