January 30, 2013 - UTI-Exton Recognizes Students for Positive Behavior

When Bob Kessler first assumed the role as Campus President at Universal Technical Institute (UTI) in Exton, he had a mission: to be a strong and supportive partner to every student. Kessler, now a regional vice president of operations, encouraged the entire Exton staff to recognize students for their positive behavior and accomplishments, no matter how big or small. To do this, he established a campus-wide program, titled “I’ve Noticed,” to reward students for those positive achievements.

In the “I’ve Noticed” program, every staff member receives 2-3 cards each month to recognize students who are doing right. They keep their eyes out for students doing positive things – complying with uniform codes, holding the door for someone else, going out of their way to say hello – and record students’ names and their good deeds on their cards. Each month, a different department runs the program, collecting the staff cards and distributing small tokens of appreciation to the recognized students. With this program, the campus promotes small, yet positive deeds that can make a big difference.

“In a day and age when it can be easy to find the negative in people’s conduct and behavior, we felt it necessary to find the positive,” said Kessler, a strong advocate for the program. “Our campus team founded a program that truly recognizes positive behavior in our students with the belief that what gets rewarded gets repeated.”

For the month of December, Financial Aid Director, Anthony Castrovillo, and the entire Financial Aid office decided to add a charitable component to the program. Each student that is recognized with an “I’ve Noticed” card will receive a reward, as well as a star that symbolizes a donation to one of three local causes: the Lord’s Pantry food bank, The Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy relief and a UTI-Exton staff member recovering from a recent car accident. The students can then choose one of those charities to receive a donation from UTI-Exton in their name before the holidays. With more than 120 staff members armed with “I’ve Noticed” cards, numerous students can be thanked for doing what is right and in turn, make a difference to three worthy causes.

“We want to recognize and reward the very positive and favorable things our students do,” said Kessler. And in doing so this month, those students are positively impacting others beyond campus walls.

For more information about UTI-Exton, please visit: http://www.uti.edu/campus-locations/philadelphia, and stay connected on Facebook or Twitter.