Carteret takes a new approach to building character

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — A handful of Carteret Elementary School students who act in ways supportive of their classmates will be receiving free tickets to New York Jets home games this season.

The ticket-giveaway is a part of an anti-bullying program called “Upstarter of the Week.” It is presented by Municipal Credit Union of NYC, through the Jets.

Carteret Elementary connected with the program this summer when its guidance counselor, Doreen Bauer, attended the second Jets Tackle Bullying Educator’s Symposium, held at MetLife Stadium, the home field of the team.

Bauer said the goal of the program is to encourage students to do something when they see bullying. The program asks students to stop being “bystanders” and become “upstanders” to bullying. But as implemented at Carteret, bullying may not necessarily enter into consideration for the ticket giveaway. What matters is how students behave toward each other.

Bauer said guidance is a broad discipline.
“We teach character development,” Bauer said. “I do these lessons anyway That’s why I got involved. Sometimes respect is a hard term for kids to understand but it could be as simple not laughing at someone else. And we can advertise that they will be rewarded to go to something as cool as a football game.”

Bauer said she thinks Carteret is the only Bloomfield school involved in the program. The school has been given 50 tickets to five Jets home games. The tickets are not evenly divided over the five games.

Teachers nominate students for “Upstander of the Week” award although they are not required to recommend anyone. For the first week, five students were nominated.

The winners, chosen by Bauer and Principal John Baltz, were sixth-grader Maria Rosillo and fourth-grader Matthew Cadorette. Both students were given four tickets.

In Bauer’s office, the children explained what they did to be supportive of a classmate.
Maria, who speaks English and Spanish, said she helped a student who had just come from Spain.
“I translated what the teacher said,” Maria said.

Matthew said what he did happened during a kickball game in gym.
“Everyone was angry who was to go first,” he said. “I told them to get in line to play. My classmates thought they were going to lose.”

Matthew said his team was down 6 to 7.
“But we won,” he said.
His teacher recommended Matthew because he rallied his team to victory by getting them to stop arguing and concentrate on the game.

Maria said she would be going to the game with her cousin, her cousin’s best friend, and her own mother, who was very happy because she has never been to anything like a Jets game. Matthew said he would be going with his father, grandfather and his brother.

“I told my mom first,” Matthew said about his win. “She told my dad. They were very proud of me.”
Bauer said the excitement of the upstander program has caught on with lunchroom aides reporting that students are keeping the tables extra clean.

She said that recommendations from the aides will also be considered but acknowledged that cleaning a table may not be the goal of an upstander, but it was certainly a start.

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