Are lanyards important or pointless? A lot of Unis Middle school students complain about their lanyards. In the pocket of our lanyard, we have a tardy card and a wings card. A wings card is a card that teachers sign everytime you do something responsible, respectful, or safe. A lot of students say they never get wings. Every time a student is tardy to class, the teachers signs their tardy card and has to put it in the system for attendance. So if students don’t really get wings and tardies get put into the computer, than what is the point of wearing a lanyard?

     “I don’t think lanyards are mandatory,” Leann bazzi said, a seventh grader at Unis Middle School. “I don’t like wearing lanyards in school because when they get lost or ruined, we get an infraction. My lanyard always rips fast and I lose it a lot,” Leann said. “When we have a basketball game or a volleyball game, we need our lanyard to go in the gym to watch the game. If we don’t have our lanyard, then we can’t attend the games and support our team. Teachers don’t really give out wings to us so I don’t think we need a wings card, but I used to get a lot in 6th grade,” she explained. Lean says lanyards are pointless and we don’t really need it.

     Miss Wilkie, a member in the PBIS committee, said, “I believe lanyards could be important, they can be used as reminders for students about behavior, identification of Unis students, pride in our school.” She says it is necessary to wear them because it is a policy in the PBIS committee. “Whether or not students carry a wings card does not impact whether a teacher gives out wings or not. I do believe we do not do a good job of giving out wings to many students,” Miss Wilkie stated. Woodworth Middle School stopped wearing lanyards and they started recording tardies on attendance. Miss Wilkie says tardies are being recorded on the computer as well as on the card within the lanyard. We have chosen to continue the lanyard as a reminder to our students and staff, to identify students and to show some pride in our school. “The PBIS Committee is frustrated with the lanyard system, we are always discussing and trying to implement things that would make PBIS better.” Many students ruin and lose their lanyards and the PBIS committee is frustrated about it all.

     Tabarek Ahmed, an eighth grader in Unis Middle School, says that she doesn’t think we need lanyards but they are good to have so students know how many tardies they have. “Most 6th graders get wings and I think it’s because they are new so the teachers give them, but seventh and eighth graders don’t.” Tabarek said teachers don’t really care about giving out wings to seventh and eighth graders probably because we are older. “To me it’s not really necessary to have a lanyard but I think we have them as a reminder to students about behavior.” She says that we don’t need them but it’s better to have them.

     In conclusion, many students say that lanyards aren’t needed but teachers say that they are. I took a vote in a class and all of the students said that we don’t need lanyards. Also, some students say that they don’t think a wings card is needed and tardies are on the computer so they don’t really need the card. Teachers say that we have the tardy card as a reminder to students on how many tardies they have. Others say it’s a reminder for students about behavior. What do you think about lanyards? Are they important or pointless?

Zeinab Jouni

Unis Middle School Journalist