Wilfredo is the newest gold student at High Road School of Wallingford High School. Wilfredo is a hard-working student who has made tremendous progress this past year. When he is not working one of his many school jobs such as working at the coffee shop, serving lunch, working at the pet center, or organizing the classroom before dismissal, Wilfredo is hard at work in the classroom attending rotations and modeling gold behavior for his classmates.
Before beginning his journey at High Road, Wilfredo had a tough time regulating his emotions and having positive peer interactions. He often missed out on educational time from unsuccessful academic interventions, which would lead to frustration, and escalated behaviors from negative peer interactions. After meeting Wilfredo, the High Road School’s team conducted academic and social emotional assessments to see where his strengths and weaknesses were. We wanted to ensure that his plan would be built upon those strengths, while also providing Wilfredo the supports he needed to be successful.
Wilfredo thrived on a high level of academic and behavioral modeling. He also benefitted from timely rewards through which he could see his progress in real time. His teachers frequently rephrased redirections into a learning opportunity and tied them to the real world. If Wilfredo was having a tough time showing respect, he was usually very good at turning it around if a staff member asked how he could have worded an interaction better. Through social work group and individual sessions, Wilfredo became more attuned to emotional regulation and recognition.
I’m very proud of the successes Wilfredo has been able to achieve. Since last September, Wilfredo has definitely matured and become a behavioral model for other students at High Road. I look forward to seeing what he will accomplish this year on gold!
Two staff members who have supported Wilfredo throughout his High Road journey are Ms. Betlej and Ms. Lieberman. Ms. Betlej held Wilfredo to a higher standard of behavior and encouraged him to do his best behaviorally and academically. Ms. Lieberman is Wilfredo’s current teacher for the 2019-2020 school year. She continues to hold Wilfredo to a higher standard and encourages him to “go for gold.” She has helped him maintain his gold status by using behavioral modeling and positive reinforcement to utilize coping strategies.
To Wilfredo, being on gold means taking pride in your accomplishments. He was motivated by his family and promised someone important to him that he would work hard toward earning gold. When he told his grandfather that he was on gold level, his grandfather said he was “grateful for High Road” and that “this was a blessing.” Wilfredo’s message for students who want to be on gold is to ignore negative behavior and do what you can to stay on color.