Cambridge High School students have Bobcat P.R.I.D.E., according to Principal Scott Eldredge.

The program, which stands for Positive, Responsible, Involved, Dependable and Efficient, is aimed at providing rewards for the positive behaviors that benefit not just the student but also the school and community, he said.

Teachers who observe students showing positive behaviors have a card marked with the appropriate category of Positive, Responsible, Involved, Dependable or Efficient the behavior falls in and that student is entered in a weekly drawing for prizes.

The program stems from a program aimed at improving attendance and attempts to reward students who go above and beyond what they are supposed to be doing, the principal noted.

Plans are for the weekly winners to be entered into monthly drawings and to have a grand prize winner at the end of the school year.

"The kids are buying into it," Eldredge said. "It is helping bring a sense of spirit and pride back into the school."

Eldredge, in his first year as principal, is a graduate of the school himself and had noticed a decline in the sense of spirit and pride.

The program already is showing results as the school whose students were out-cheered by the opposing team’s fans at the first football game now bring with them to the football games and often other sports a spirit club starting out with 30 students that has grown to 200, he said.

T-shirts and special activities designed to build school spirit also have surfaced.

"It’s a revival of the spirit that used to be here and died down," Eldredge said. "It’s coming back and I’m proud of them for doing that."

The school presently has 739 students in grades 9-12 and 40 teachers. The school is located at 1401 Deer Path Drive in Cambridge. For more information, call 740-435-1100 or find out more on Web at Cambridge.k12.oh.us/chs.