The Columbus School 6th grade’s Award Ceremony for Bimester I was held November 1st to recognize and award academic excellence and Character Counts in students.

The ceremony was held in the Art Gallery and was conducted by the several 6th grade teachers who recognized the outstanding academic performance of various students. Additionally, students who exemplified the 6 pillars of Character Counts were also recognized.

“For the best students awards, I look at who has the highest grades. For the Character Counts I think who have shown those values, but I also think about those students who have been overlooked, so instead of going with the most obvious choice I go with those kids who aren’t necessarily passing all their classes and those who need positive reinforcement,” Mitchell Schwartz, 6th grade history teacher, said.

Beyond only awarding student performance, the ceremony seeks to acknowledge students’ character and capabilities.

“The purpose of this ceremony is to celebrate students´ achievements and efforts. We recognize excellence in what the students know but more importantly, in who they are and what they can do,” Juan David Lopez, Middle School Principal, said.

Recently, TCS decided to include a Character Counts section in the 9 year old tradition of the award ceremony, in order to emphasize the 6 pillars of Character Counts.

“We determine who wins an award by academic excellence; two years ago we started giving awards recognizing Character Counts . grade point average plays a role, but ethics and citizenship also count. The awards collect social, academic and emotional skills of students,”  Marcela Eusse, 6th grade Spanish teacher, said.

Furthermore, the ceremony also intends to motivate students have a better academic performance and show an outstanding character development in order for them to be able to win an award.

“I am motivated to win another award, I am very responsible with class work. I like to be outstanding among my classmates, and I’ve done it in every year, so I want to continue that way. ” Maria Arango Brazdys, 6th grade student and winner of Citizenship in sociales, responsibility in math, best student in history and Honor Roll student, said.

The awards provide an extrinsic base in order to later develop an intrinsic motivation to further develop student learning and performance.

“Teachers call upon both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation at different points and in different situations. As students develop increasing competence, the knowledge and skills that may have been developed extrinsically provide a foundation to support more complex tasks, which become less effort and more enjoyable,” suggests a study done by the American Psychological Association.