ABOVE: Fairmont Elementary School Teacher Nyla Anderson and third grade student Grahm Bates stand on both sides of The Nest’s school store sign while holding bags and individual pieces of Bates’ work, made using a 3D printer. Bates sells his items through the store, where they have been a hit.

FAIRMONT – Through a new team centered on positive behavior, students are participating in an economy of doing the right thing.

With the success of the PBIS program at Fairmont, which led to Fairmont being cited as one of six PBIS Ambassador Schools throughout the state, elementary teacher Nyla Anderson said a new approach was found.

“That knowledge from our PBIS team helped us create this new team called the social-emotional learning team,” she said. “We look at behavior and data, and we started to create a school store this year. We named it The Nest, so students can earn these red cards that have our four cardinal expectations on them. A teacher or adult in the school can give them to a student when they see that they are going above and beyond or following expectations, being a good student.”

By establishing this, Anderson said she wants to continue seeing improvement in the behavior of students.

“It all stems back to the student,” she said. “Who is a student? We want to build responsible, kind, good people going out into our world. That’s where we all started. What is our goal here? We want responsible, safe, hard-working, healthy students.”

So far, this has come to fruition.

“The students are working really hard, really motivated with these red cards and would like to save and purchase,” Anderson said. “It’s helping them make decisions with what they’ve been saving up. When my students go in there, I think they’re really motivated by that.”

It’s not just the tickets either. Fifth and sixth grade students assist with running the shop as cashiers, which Anderson said allows for important development.

“It’s so important seeing a sixth-grade student helping a kindergartener or someone who might not know what they want to buy that day. Later, they see those students in the hallways, and can maybe think about, ‘Oh my gosh, what if I get to run The Nest one day?’ They are looking up to these students and improving their behavior to do that.”

Hundreds of tickets have gone out to students, to the point Anderson said they are running out. Prizes range from five to 100 tickets, with the largest prizes being class rewards like a neon party. Students are also able to combine their red card tickets to buy prizes together.

The program has also enabled creative students to showcase their skills. Grahm Bates is currently in the third grade, and got the idea to support from a birthday present.

“I got the 3D printer for my birthday,” he said. “I heard they were gonna do The Nest this year, so I thought, ‘Hey, I can donate some stuff because I have something to use to donate.'”

Through The Nest, Bates is able to bring his talent to others by selling 3D printed trinkets, including cardinals and Valentine’s themed items. Anderson said they have already been a big hit.

“The students love the items Graham has created,” she said. “They’re really just catered to our school, even like little cardinals, my students really love.”

“It’s special to me because it’s a whole school, and there are hundreds of kids in here, and I got embraced for [my talent],” Bates said.

The Nest opens up again for students February 17 and will be open for two weeks. After that, students will be able to save their cards for another month before the store reopens.