It’s Ok To Be Smart Lake City High Game Show Helps Dispel Nerd Image

Few sounds are more piercing than the shrieks of teenagers.

The decibel level was somewhere between “exceptionally excited” and “practically painful” at Wednesday’s Renaissance Feud game show, held at Lake City High School.

There was much for the audience to cheer about. Up in front of them, on an iridescent stage set, a gabby emcee and his glittery assistant were giving away money and gifts galore.

Renaissance is a program that rewards academic excellence. The game show is one of the big payoffs for kids who maintain a 3.5 grade point average, on a 4-point scale.

“I think I would have done it anyway, but this is an added bonus,” freshman Natalie Sanchez said between the screams of her classmates.

“Unless I get good grades, I know I’m not going to get into college, and I’m not going to get to do this. It keeps me going.”

Renaissance is a national program. It was initiated by the Jostens Co., which sells class rings and the like. Every participating school is free to find its own ways of fostering academic excellence.

At Coeur d’Alene High School, students get discount rates on prom tickets, VIP cards to use at local businesses, T-shirts, leadership training. They pick a teacher of the month.

The Lake City program has evolved into something splashier.

“Three years ago, when we gave away our first T-shirts, the kids were kind of resistant. They asked, ‘Do we have to wear them?,”’ said organizer Jennifer Johnson.

“One kid said, ‘Mrs. Johnson, why don’t you just get a stencil and put ‘NERD’ across our foreheads?”’

The game show has helped change that. Kids need a T-shirt to get in the door. Last year, 280 of them qualified. This year, about 450 did.

That’s a third of the school, noted teacher and project co-chairman Fred Patano.

“Last year, some kids felt bad because they didn’t get to go,” he said. “At Lake City, it’s OK to be smart now.”

Johnson attributes the increased interest to the fact that ninth-graders came into Lake City last fall knowing about the program. They kept their grades up from the start.

There’s a weekly giveaway of pizza to kids who keep their grades up, and front-door parking places reserved for students of the week. But the really big incentive, in addition to the game show, is the Car Conspiracy.

Every time a student gets an A in a core subject, his or her name goes in the drawing for a car. A winner will be picked at the school assembly on May 20.

This year, it’s a used Honda Accord. Local mechanics and car shops pitched in to service, detail, pinstripe and airbrush the car into coolness.

Scores of other businesses donated more than $6,000 in cash and prizes to the game show.

Johnson, who played the “Vanna White” role in Wednesday’s game show, has asked more than 100 people to contribute to Renaissance. In two years, only two have said no.

“Most people have responded with, ‘If it promotes academics and a work ethic, I’m all for supporting that.”’

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo