Dr. William H. Horton School is one of the most densely populated schools in the North Ward.  The students are serviced by 119 staff members, 60 of whom are part of the instructional staff and all of whom are committed to the belief that our students are the world’s greatest.  The New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards driven instructional program is intensive and designed to challenge and stimulate the whole child.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic,  students across the district have struggled to stay motivated to go to class and after school programs. Unfortunately, student absences slowly began to tick upward. However, thanks to some ingenuity anclever thinking, ASPIRA Program Coordinator Soledad "Maggie" Aguilar has found an amazing solution.

 

Ms. Aguilar created an "Attendance Wheel Of Fortune" game to promote attendance in ASPIRA after school programs, loaded with some amazing incentives. Here's how it works:

 

Each day that a student shows up to one of ASPIRA's after school classes, Ms. Aguilar enters their name into the spinning wheel app. The more days that a student attends, the more times their names appears on the spinning wheel. Ms. Aguilar spins the wheel once a month, and if it lands on the student's name, they win! It's that simple! (One students from each grade gets a chance to win.)

 

The gift baskets have items such as motivational books, gel pens, candy, journals and a whole host of other cool items! Each month the basket changes, so students never know what they could expect.

 

As a result of this game, student attendance in ASPIRA's afterschool programs have gone up by 15%! Good job!

 

Below are a few pictures of some lucky winners, along with Ms. Aguilar  posing and hand delivering a basket to a winning student.
 

For more information, contact Ms. Aguilar at 973-484-7554 ext. 215 or saguilaraspiranj@gmail.com.