On Feb. 15, the CARES cash program was introduced at Aragon. Staffulty who observe a student embodying one or more of the Aragon CARES values can award the student a piece of paper known as CARES cash.
Three years ago, all San Mateo Union High School District schools were tasked with establishing their value systems. Aragon settled with CARES, an acronym for connect, achieve, respect, engage and show spirit. In the 2020-21 school year, a behavior intervention system was created to ensure that students on campus are treated fairly and receive the support they need.
The next phase was to launch a recognition system that would reward students who are representing CARES. The students behind the CARES cash program are junior Rashmika Manu, junior Behruz Azimov, sophomore Zachary Lee and sophomore Katelyn Rau. They are part of the student recognition commission in the Renaissance Leadership class, and spent 24 weeks creating proposals and prototypes before piloting the CARES cash program this semester.
“A lot of our values [were] lost during quarantine and online school,” Manu said. “Initially we had Don Dollars … [but] we felt it didn’t recognize nearly as much of the student body as we wanted it to.”
Don Dollars awarded students a certain amount of money depending on how high their GPA was at the end of each six week grading period. However, Manu, along with the other students in the student recognition program, wanted to create a more inclusive reward system.
Students need to scratch off a sticker to see how much their CARES cash is worth. They can visit the CARES Casita outside of the leadership room on Thursdays to exchange it for a prize. The CARES cash will be recycled and returned into the CARES cash economy to enhance Aragon’s green initiative.
Depending on how much CARES cash a student has, they can purchase a variety of prizes including spirit gear, food, spirit points for their class and gift cards. There is an opportunity to obtain the CARES Queue, a pass that enables students to wait in a special fast line to get their food for breakfast, brunch and lunch. This is valid until the end of the school year.
The student recognition commission was granted $10 thousand to fund its student recognition program.
“We’ve been using that $10 thousand to decide on prizes,” Manu said. “We want to distribute prizes that students would want.”
One of the main concerns surrounding the CARES cash program is whether all students will be recognized through this program and whether teachers will actively participate. Senior Erica Lin, who was recently given CARES cash for helping update Chromebooks in the library, points to a possible problem.
“I feel like teachers often forget about the CARES cash,” Lin said. “They forget to give it to students. But, overall, [the program is] not a bad system.”
To track progress, the student recognition commission and others involved in Leadership will collect data during live announcements. Information will mostly be collected about who is receiving CARES cash, the number of times a student receives CARES cash and if all the CARES cash sent out is returned.
“We always want to make sure that students feel seen and valued in our community,” said leadership teacher and Director of Student Activities Melissa Perino. “We love serving the Aragon community and this is a great way to do that.”
Based on student and staffulty feedback, the CARES cash program will be adjusted and continued in the 2022-23 school year.
