Masked singers? Teacher sumo wrestling? Faculty band? How do these events tie in to show our school’s three pillars respect, responsibility, and pride? What is Be On Point exactly?  

Be On Point was started as a form of a “Positive Behavior Support In Schools” or PBSIS program that is run by the state of New Jersey. The main goal of Be On Point is to help enforce the ideas of supporting students and creating a positive environment amongst staff and students in addition to the focus on positive behavior and student achievement. 

A kick-off event at the beginning of the year is run to set the tone for positivity during the school year, and in the middle of the year, there is a booster event to remind students of the main ideas of Be On Point and celebrate their successes.

Be On Point is run by a committee of staff members at Point Pleasant Boro. This includes teachers Ms. Bergmann, Mrs. Kaysan, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Furlong, as well as guidance counselor Ms. Salvatoriello. 

Be On Point committee member and psychology teacher Mrs. Kaysan, was asked what goes into putting these events together. She explained, “to run a Be On Point Event there are a lot of moving parts that go into the organization and planning. We reach out to local businesses and teachers within the building to help support our mission.”

On Monday, March 20th students gathered in the auditorium for an assembly of fun! This booster event continued on the principals from the beginning of the year kick-off event. During blocks one and two the freshman class and senior class had their assembly and in the afternoon during blocks four and five the sophomore class and junior class had theirs. 

The event started off the masked singers, different for each grade level event, performing their songs. Students and teachers were in costume in the Zanther the panther suit. After their performances students were tasked with deciding who was behind the mask. 

The next event that happened was a “sumo wrestling” match between some of the staff members. There were two matches, Mr. Brady vs. Mr. Canary where Mr. Brady was victorious, and Mrs. Bruno vs. Mrs. Boska, where Mrs. Boska came out on top.

Then, motivational speaker, Denise Ghizzone gave students a lesson about never taking anything for granted and treating others with kindness. She spoke to the school about the importance of perseverance and not judging a book by its cover. This powerful speech was very moving and inspiring to our school to encourage people to never give up in order to achieve their goals. Cerebral Palsy did not get in Denise’s way of graduating from Brookdale Community College with an associate’s degree, becoming a teacher, and writing two successful books. 

The last event to take place followed by a wrap-up to the booster event was a performance by the student and staff Jazz band as well as a faculty band performance. Students and staff performed together some songs together. Followed by a staff-only performance where Mr. Visco, Mr. Fisher, Mr. Sicilian, Mr. Nelson, Dr. C, Ms. Villa, and senior Andrew Warade performed. 

This assembly was engaging for students in all four grades and students had the opportunity to come together and have fun all while supporting their school community. One of the masked singer contestants, sophomore Brayden Merritt shared with us, “it was so awesome becoming Zanther the panther to sing one of my favorite songs, it was a core memory experience for me and I am glad I got to let my panther pride shine!”

Senior Anna Heras, who helped out with the event, shared with us that her favorite part of the event was how hyped everyone got over the sumo wrestling and seeing all the excitement from the students overall. 

In addition sophomore, Hannah Ricker added that she thought the assembly was very inspiring and the message from the guest speaker Denise really focused on the importance of respect which is one of the pillars in our school.  

Also, sophomore, Christian Joule described that “the guest speaker was very inspirational and the event created a sense of community in the school.”

Freshman, Nathalie Jose shared how she also really enjoyed the event and getting to  experience this fun event with her peers made it even better. 

History teacher and Be On Point committee member Mr. Furlong described why he wanted to get involved with this program and why this program matters to him: “Be on Point is an amazing program that highlights and rewards positive behavior in the school and in the community as well. I wanted to get involved with Be On Point to make a difference in  both school culture and community.”

Overall, this assembly had an impact on all of the students and staff both watching and participating in the event. The event reinforced the core values of our school and conveyed a powerful message that students can carry with them along with this memory into their lives even after high school.