A Greenbrier elementary school is solving attendance issues with an obstacle course, which staff at Springhill Elementary School credit to the uptick in attendance during the second semester.
“Even with the rough flu season that we had last year, we saw a 3 percent increase in student attendance that semester,” Library Media Specialist Kathryn Crymes said.
It’s a challenge set up for students based on the TV show called American Ninja Warrior.
“It’s to encourage students to come to school so rather than giving them a prize or physical incentive, we’re giving them an experience,” Crymes said.
Classrooms work as a team to get 12 days of perfect attendance. For every 12 days, they’ll get 30 minutes on an obstacle course at the end of the semester, which resembles the game show.
Each May, the P.E. teacher works to design a new course.
“It gets better every year,” fifth-grader Salter Mahan said.
There have already been individual incentives in place, but Springhill’s principle noticed too many children missing school towards the end of the year.
“If they miss two or less days each nine weeks, they get to play with the principal. So, we still put an incentive in place, but we saw really decreased attendance in the second semester,” Crymes said.
Every time students leave their classroom they can look at a chart that shows them how many days of perfect attendance they’ve had.
“If they have a day where everyone is present, then they get to fill in a one for that day,” Crymes said.
This will be the third year the challenge has been held.
Staff said students look forward to it and make sure their peers are in their seats every day.
“It was cool like, a bunch of people were telling them like, try to come to school unless you’re sick then try to be there,” Mahan said.
“It is really surprising the way that the kids come together,” Crymes said.
Faculty said it's a great way to make sure students keep up with their curriculum and have fun in the process.
