November 12, 2025 • 12 mins
Recognition shouldn’t be rare—or reserved for a select few. We sit down with social studies teacher and Olean parent Joelle Perry to share how a homegrown honor roll celebration turned quiet effort into visible pride, grew participation to hundreds of students, and set a new standard for academic culture at Olean High School.
Joelle traces the spark back to middle school traditions and a candid post-observation chat that asked, “What could we do better?” The answer became a three-times-a-year celebration that blends heartfelt teacher tributes with irresistible incentives: a warm breakfast of home fries, bacon, and local donuts for early honorees, and a third-marking-period push for high honors capped by an extreme ice cream sundae buffet. Along the way, we talk about why students need to hear “we see you,” how naming specific behaviors—late-night study sessions, thoughtful questions, attendance, and steady participation—builds trust, and why the high honor threshold of 92 percent turns momentum into mastery.
This conversation is packed with practical details for educators and families: how to scale recognition without losing authenticity, how logistics and timing support learning, and how to frame excellence as a reachable challenge. Joelle’s message to students is clear and empowering: want excellence, plan the work, ask for help early, and bring the same effort to every class to become a whole student whose habits travel beyond the building. We also shout out the leaders who helped fund and champion the program, proving that budgets can reflect values when the goal is to celebrate achievement and raise expectations.
If you care about school culture, student motivation, and sustainable ways to honor academic excellence, this is your roadmap and a morale boost rolled into one. Subscribe, share with a colleague or parent, and leave a review telling us your best recognition idea—we might feature it next time.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
So thank you so much for coming on the Husky Huddle.
Um, this is our newest episode,and I am joined happily by
Joelle Perry, who's going totalk to us today about the honor
roll celebration activities thatwe have going on here at Oleanne
High School.
So, welcome to the Husky Huddle.
(00:21):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Absolutely.
So, could you tell us a littlebit about yourself and then
we'll jump into the honor rollcelebration?
SPEAKER_01 (00:30):
Yep, absolutely.
Um, my name is Joel, and I grewup and was born in Springville,
New York.
And I um also grew up with Mr.
Perry.
We both went to Springville andum we were interviewing against
each other for jobs and uhrealized that was not getting us
(00:52):
anywhere.
So for two years, we moved toVirginia, where we both taught
social studies in Virginia.
But after being away for twoyears, we really missed home and
we missed family.
And so Ole Ann High School hadtwo social studies openings at
the same time, and we flew homeand we interviewed and we both
(01:12):
were hired.
And now I have been teaching for17 years.
Um, I did stay home for fouryears when I had my children.
Um, but um, and that was a gooddecision for for our family.
Mr.
Perry kept teaching and stayed,so he's been here a little bit
longer than me.
But so yeah, I've been teachingfor uh 17 years.
(01:33):
And I have absolutely lovedbeing in Olean.
I love living in this communityand I love teaching in this
district.
So um thank you for asking me tocome.
SPEAKER_00 (01:44):
Absolutely, and thank you so much.
And I hope to have you back whenit's time to talk about the
corporate challenge.
SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
Yes, I'd be happy to come back for that as well.
SPEAKER_00 (01:52):
Yes, that work is invaluable and always puts a
smile on everybody's faces atthe end of the school year.
Good, great.
I love all right, so we got afuture booking for you as well.
I'll be back.
Thank you.
So um we're here to talk aboutthe first marking period honor
roll celebration.
So can you share with us whatinspired you to start this
(02:13):
celebration?
SPEAKER_01 (02:14):
Yes, absolutely.
So not only am I a teacher inthe district, but I am also a
parent in the district.
I have a son currently in 10thgrade in my own class, and I
have an eighth grader as well.
And what I realized was mychildren at the middle school
level were being honoredquarterly at the middle school,
(02:35):
and they were so excited to goto the honor roll celebration at
the middle school.
They would come home withbeautiful certificates, they
would talk about how they got toeat pizza with their friends,
and they really felt importantand that their work that was
being done was being valued atthe middle school.
And I really felt that uh thatwas important, and we did not
(02:59):
have that opportunity here atthe high school, and so I went
to um several differentadministrators and talked about
how we can jumpstart those sameopportunities at the high school
to recognize and celebrate andpromote academic excellence at
the high school level.
SPEAKER_00 (03:19):
Wonderful, that's awesome.
So um this celebrated thiscelebration started last year.
SPEAKER_01 (03:27):
Correct, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (03:27):
Uh, can you share a little bit about how that first
event went?
SPEAKER_01 (03:31):
The first event went wonderful, and the students were
so excited because they had notbeen recognized at the high
school level, and we had almost375 students being celebrated
the first time, and the joy andexcitement that they had told me
(03:54):
that we were doing the rightthing.
Wonderful.
And the immediately when we weredone, the next question was when
does it happen again?
That's awesome.
Yeah, and this spans across thegrade levels, like eight through
twelve.
Eight through twelve, and we dothe celebration three times a
year.
We do not do it after the fourthmarking period because we're on
(04:16):
summer break.
So, yes, so we celebrate thefirst three marking periods.
SPEAKER_00 (04:20):
That's awesome.
So, what were some memorablemoments or highlights from the
first uh celebration?
SPEAKER_01 (04:26):
So, in the first celebration, I came up with this
idea of asking guest speakers,guest teachers to come and
highlight some of their favoritemoments or some of their um hard
work that they see in theclassroom.
And it was really nice to uh Mr.
Rosinski was nominated to comeand talk, and the older group
(04:49):
actually picked Mr.
Perry to come and talk, and theyreally did a great job just
expressing how grateful theteachers in the building are
that these students do put inthe work every day.
They do want to do well, um,they want to participate, and
(05:10):
just having that recognition wasreally an important special
moment between these teachersand the students.
SPEAKER_00 (05:19):
And that's awesome because think about it.
Many times you're in class, youknow your teacher is happy that
you put in an effort, but do howoften do you actually hear that
from your teacher that says, Isee you when you come into
class, I see that you'rereading, and I see you asking
those questions when you don'tunderstand, and I see it paying
(05:40):
off with those higher grades.
SPEAKER_01 (05:41):
Yes, and I'm so glad that you said that because I do
believe that was what Mr.
Perry said.
Like, we see you.
You know, we know that you'restaying up late.
We know that you're workingextra hard.
And what we want you to do is wewant more of you to be seen.
You know, the goal is to get thenumber to grow every marking
(06:03):
period, and it's working.
The numbers keep going up.
Um, the students are alreadytalking about it, they're
talking about what food is beingserved, they're looking forward
to it.
Um, so I'm excited that they'reexcited.
You know, the program, thecelebration, it's working.
SPEAKER_00 (06:22):
That's wonderful.
And once they start asking aboutthe food, you know.
Yes, yes, what is being served?
Yeah, that's awesome.
So um, are you planning onexpanding this this year?
Is this celebration gonna havemore snacks?
Like, what is the extra spicethat's being given to the honor
(06:44):
roll celebration?
SPEAKER_01 (06:45):
So I don't know if we want to call it an extra
spice, but we have added anextra level or challenge to it.
So the first marking period andthe second marking period will
be all encompassing of the honorroll.
The third marking period is thecoveted level.
That will be for high honor rollonly.
(07:08):
And that will be our extreme icecream sundae buffet.
SPEAKER_00 (07:12):
I love this.
This is awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (07:15):
Yeah, so that's we're really trying by the end
of the year to really push ourstudents to reach that 92% and
above.
SPEAKER_00 (07:24):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (07:24):
And um, you know, it for the for the students that
have been to marking period oneand marking period two, we
thought it was important to tryto raise the bar just a little
bit more and encourage them tohit that high.
So, yeah, so for the thirdmarking period, the ultimate
Sunday buffet, wow, for our highmarking period only is what
(07:48):
we'll be taking.
SPEAKER_00 (07:48):
And this celebration occurs first thing in the
morning.
SPEAKER_01 (07:51):
Oh, well, so that will be periods probably seven
and eight.
Yeah, so we don't want to sugarthem up and send them back like
8:30 in the morning.
Go to class.
SPEAKER_00 (08:02):
Oh, I love that.
SPEAKER_01 (08:03):
So for this uh first marking period, um, we talked it
over and we decided we weregoing to do a breakfast.
And so working with Dan Dunklmanhas been great.
Yeah, we are doing um home friesand bacon and um donuts from
Reed's food barn.
SPEAKER_00 (08:21):
I love that.
That's awesome.
That would inspire me to be on.
Yes, yes.
So, what message do you want tosend to students who are
striving to make the honor rollin the next marking period?
So we've got a little bit oftime now, and then there's the
next one.
So they've got three to aspireto, especially that third really
(08:42):
special one.
Yeah, but what's the message tothem?
SPEAKER_01 (08:45):
Yeah, my first of all, my message is that we are
very proud of you.
We, you know, we do appreciateyou, we do see you, but know
that um we are joyful thatyou're in this building every
day, and we want you to continueto work hard and we want you to
uh be productive outside ourschool building.
(09:07):
You know, the end goal is togain skills that you can use
outside this building.
And uh we are really trying tocreate a whole student here,
right?
And we want you to work hard andnot just one class here and
there.
We want you to work hard in allof your classes and become a
(09:27):
whole student and be someonethat can be productive in our
community and do well outsideour building.
So we really want to celebratethe whole student that you've
done well in all of youracademic classes.
Keep working.
Um, you know, take pride in yourwork, take pride in your effort
(09:50):
and know that we see you andwe're proud of you.
SPEAKER_00 (09:53):
Absolutely.
So before we wrap up, is thereanyone that you would like to
thank for helping make the honorroll celebration possible?
SPEAKER_01 (10:03):
Yes, absolutely.
Well, first of all, thank you,Dr.
Morris, for helping to, youknow, move this along in the
right direction.
SPEAKER_00 (10:10):
So thank you.
I appreciate I am always insupport of supporting our kids
to be the best huskies they canbe.
SPEAKER_01 (10:18):
Yes, absolutely.
Um, I'd like to thank um Mrs.
Ballotta, Jenny Balotta, forproviding the funds needed
because there are a lot ofstudents that we are uh feeding
at these celebrations.
So thank you.
Um, Mr.
Austin, uh him and I, he thisactually came about when he
(10:39):
evaluated me and he asked me myhonest opinion and said, what
could our building be doingbetter during our
post-observation?
And this is when it theinception actually occurred, was
in my post-observation meetingwith him.
Wow.
And so Mr.
Austin encouraged me to uh getit rolling, see what we could
do.
And so I'd like to thank Mr.
(11:00):
Austin for his support as well.
Yeah, and Mr.
Adriano has been wonderful aswell.
He likes to come down and say afew words, and you know, I think
it brings him joy too.
This is uh, you know, the highschool his building, and he
likes to see hardworkingstudents be rewarded and set the
tone for other students to tryto achieve.
SPEAKER_00 (11:20):
Absolutely setting the tone for excellence.
Yes.
All right, and so we will endwith our final, final, but very
important question.
What advice would you give tostudents about setting goals and
working hard throughout the restof the school year?
SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
My advice is that anything is achievable.
You know, you have to you haveto want it.
That's right.
You know, no one can make you goand achieve excellence.
You have to want excellence, andanybody can achieve excellence
if they just put their mind toit.
So um, this building is full ofsupportive, encouraging uh
(12:00):
teachers that are here for youwhen you need them.
Um, but put just one foot infront of the other, and before
you know it, you'll be having anice cream celebration yourself.
So I encourage every student inthis building to challenge
themselves and to work hard, andsuccess will show up before you
(12:21):
know it.
SPEAKER_00 (12:21):
That is great advice.
Thank you so much, and thank youso much for the work that you
are doing to support our huskiesas they are moving in mass
towards an honor rollcelebration.
And I appreciate all the workthat you put into this.
This is a lot, and I can't waitto have you back on the Husky
(12:44):
Huddle for our corporatechallenge celebration as well.
SPEAKER_01 (12:47):
Thank you so much.
Thank you, thank you, thank youfor having me.
So thank you so much for coming on the Husky Huddle.
Um, this is our newest episode,and I am joined happily by
Joelle Perry, who's going totalk to us today about the honor
roll celebration activities thatwe have going on here at Oleanne
High School.
So, welcome to the Husky Huddle.
(00:21):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Absolutely.
So, could you tell us a littlebit about yourself and then
we'll jump into the honor rollcelebration?
SPEAKER_01 (00:30):
Yep, absolutely.
Um, my name is Joel, and I grewup and was born in Springville,
New York.
And I um also grew up with Mr.
Perry.
We both went to Springville andum we were interviewing against
each other for jobs and uhrealized that was not getting us
(00:52):
anywhere.
So for two years, we moved toVirginia, where we both taught
social studies in Virginia.
But after being away for twoyears, we really missed home and
we missed family.
And so Ole Ann High School hadtwo social studies openings at
the same time, and we flew homeand we interviewed and we both
(01:12):
were hired.
And now I have been teaching for17 years.
Um, I did stay home for fouryears when I had my children.
Um, but um, and that was a gooddecision for for our family.
Mr.
Perry kept teaching and stayed,so he's been here a little bit
longer than me.
But so yeah, I've been teachingfor uh 17 years.
(01:33):
And I have absolutely lovedbeing in Olean.
I love living in this communityand I love teaching in this
district.
So um thank you for asking me tocome.
SPEAKER_00 (01:44):
Absolutely, and thank you so much.
And I hope to have you back whenit's time to talk about the
corporate challenge.
SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
Yes, I'd be happy to come back for that as well.
SPEAKER_00 (01:52):
Yes, that work is invaluable and always puts a
smile on everybody's faces atthe end of the school year.
Good, great.
I love all right, so we got afuture booking for you as well.
I'll be back.
Thank you.
So um we're here to talk aboutthe first marking period honor
roll celebration.
So can you share with us whatinspired you to start this
(02:13):
celebration?
SPEAKER_01 (02:14):
Yes, absolutely.
So not only am I a teacher inthe district, but I am also a
parent in the district.
I have a son currently in 10thgrade in my own class, and I
have an eighth grader as well.
And what I realized was mychildren at the middle school
level were being honoredquarterly at the middle school,
(02:35):
and they were so excited to goto the honor roll celebration at
the middle school.
They would come home withbeautiful certificates, they
would talk about how they got toeat pizza with their friends,
and they really felt importantand that their work that was
being done was being valued atthe middle school.
And I really felt that uh thatwas important, and we did not
(02:59):
have that opportunity here atthe high school, and so I went
to um several differentadministrators and talked about
how we can jumpstart those sameopportunities at the high school
to recognize and celebrate andpromote academic excellence at
the high school level.
SPEAKER_00 (03:19):
Wonderful, that's awesome.
So um this celebrated thiscelebration started last year.
SPEAKER_01 (03:27):
Correct, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (03:27):
Uh, can you share a little bit about how that first
event went?
SPEAKER_01 (03:31):
The first event went wonderful, and the students were
so excited because they had notbeen recognized at the high
school level, and we had almost375 students being celebrated
the first time, and the joy andexcitement that they had told me
(03:54):
that we were doing the rightthing.
Wonderful.
And the immediately when we weredone, the next question was when
does it happen again?
That's awesome.
Yeah, and this spans across thegrade levels, like eight through
twelve.
Eight through twelve, and we dothe celebration three times a
year.
We do not do it after the fourthmarking period because we're on
(04:16):
summer break.
So, yes, so we celebrate thefirst three marking periods.
SPEAKER_00 (04:20):
That's awesome.
So, what were some memorablemoments or highlights from the
first uh celebration?
SPEAKER_01 (04:26):
So, in the first celebration, I came up with this
idea of asking guest speakers,guest teachers to come and
highlight some of their favoritemoments or some of their um hard
work that they see in theclassroom.
And it was really nice to uh Mr.
Rosinski was nominated to comeand talk, and the older group
(04:49):
actually picked Mr.
Perry to come and talk, and theyreally did a great job just
expressing how grateful theteachers in the building are
that these students do put inthe work every day.
They do want to do well, um,they want to participate, and
(05:10):
just having that recognition wasreally an important special
moment between these teachersand the students.
SPEAKER_00 (05:19):
And that's awesome because think about it.
Many times you're in class, youknow your teacher is happy that
you put in an effort, but do howoften do you actually hear that
from your teacher that says, Isee you when you come into
class, I see that you'rereading, and I see you asking
those questions when you don'tunderstand, and I see it paying
(05:40):
off with those higher grades.
SPEAKER_01 (05:41):
Yes, and I'm so glad that you said that because I do
believe that was what Mr.
Perry said.
Like, we see you.
You know, we know that you'restaying up late.
We know that you're workingextra hard.
And what we want you to do is wewant more of you to be seen.
You know, the goal is to get thenumber to grow every marking
(06:03):
period, and it's working.
The numbers keep going up.
Um, the students are alreadytalking about it, they're
talking about what food is beingserved, they're looking forward
to it.
Um, so I'm excited that they'reexcited.
You know, the program, thecelebration, it's working.
SPEAKER_00 (06:22):
That's wonderful.
And once they start asking aboutthe food, you know.
Yes, yes, what is being served?
Yeah, that's awesome.
So um, are you planning onexpanding this this year?
Is this celebration gonna havemore snacks?
Like, what is the extra spicethat's being given to the honor
(06:44):
roll celebration?
SPEAKER_01 (06:45):
So I don't know if we want to call it an extra
spice, but we have added anextra level or challenge to it.
So the first marking period andthe second marking period will
be all encompassing of the honorroll.
The third marking period is thecoveted level.
That will be for high honor rollonly.
(07:08):
And that will be our extreme icecream sundae buffet.
SPEAKER_00 (07:12):
I love this.
This is awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (07:15):
Yeah, so that's we're really trying by the end
of the year to really push ourstudents to reach that 92% and
above.
SPEAKER_00 (07:24):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (07:24):
And um, you know, it for the for the students that
have been to marking period oneand marking period two, we
thought it was important to tryto raise the bar just a little
bit more and encourage them tohit that high.
So, yeah, so for the thirdmarking period, the ultimate
Sunday buffet, wow, for our highmarking period only is what
(07:48):
we'll be taking.
SPEAKER_00 (07:48):
And this celebration occurs first thing in the
morning.
SPEAKER_01 (07:51):
Oh, well, so that will be periods probably seven
and eight.
Yeah, so we don't want to sugarthem up and send them back like
8:30 in the morning.
Go to class.
SPEAKER_00 (08:02):
Oh, I love that.
SPEAKER_01 (08:03):
So for this uh first marking period, um, we talked it
over and we decided we weregoing to do a breakfast.
And so working with Dan Dunklmanhas been great.
Yeah, we are doing um home friesand bacon and um donuts from
Reed's food barn.
SPEAKER_00 (08:21):
I love that.
That's awesome.
That would inspire me to be on.
Yes, yes.
So, what message do you want tosend to students who are
striving to make the honor rollin the next marking period?
So we've got a little bit oftime now, and then there's the
next one.
So they've got three to aspireto, especially that third really
(08:42):
special one.
Yeah, but what's the message tothem?
SPEAKER_01 (08:45):
Yeah, my first of all, my message is that we are
very proud of you.
We, you know, we do appreciateyou, we do see you, but know
that um we are joyful thatyou're in this building every
day, and we want you to continueto work hard and we want you to
uh be productive outside ourschool building.
(09:07):
You know, the end goal is togain skills that you can use
outside this building.
And uh we are really trying tocreate a whole student here,
right?
And we want you to work hard andnot just one class here and
there.
We want you to work hard in allof your classes and become a
(09:27):
whole student and be someonethat can be productive in our
community and do well outsideour building.
So we really want to celebratethe whole student that you've
done well in all of youracademic classes.
Keep working.
Um, you know, take pride in yourwork, take pride in your effort
(09:50):
and know that we see you andwe're proud of you.
SPEAKER_00 (09:53):
Absolutely.
So before we wrap up, is thereanyone that you would like to
thank for helping make the honorroll celebration possible?
SPEAKER_01 (10:03):
Yes, absolutely.
Well, first of all, thank you,Dr.
Morris, for helping to, youknow, move this along in the
right direction.
SPEAKER_00 (10:10):
So thank you.
I appreciate I am always insupport of supporting our kids
to be the best huskies they canbe.
SPEAKER_01 (10:18):
Yes, absolutely.
Um, I'd like to thank um Mrs.
Ballotta, Jenny Balotta, forproviding the funds needed
because there are a lot ofstudents that we are uh feeding
at these celebrations.
So thank you.
Um, Mr.
Austin, uh him and I, he thisactually came about when he
(10:39):
evaluated me and he asked me myhonest opinion and said, what
could our building be doingbetter during our
post-observation?
And this is when it theinception actually occurred, was
in my post-observation meetingwith him.
Wow.
And so Mr.
Austin encouraged me to uh getit rolling, see what we could
do.
And so I'd like to thank Mr.
(11:00):
Austin for his support as well.
Yeah, and Mr.
Adriano has been wonderful aswell.
He likes to come down and say afew words, and you know, I think
it brings him joy too.
This is uh, you know, the highschool his building, and he
likes to see hardworkingstudents be rewarded and set the
tone for other students to tryto achieve.
SPEAKER_00 (11:20):
Absolutely setting the tone for excellence.
Yes.
All right, and so we will endwith our final, final, but very
important question.
What advice would you give tostudents about setting goals and
working hard throughout the restof the school year?
SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
My advice is that anything is achievable.
You know, you have to you haveto want it.
That's right.
You know, no one can make you goand achieve excellence.
You have to want excellence, andanybody can achieve excellence
if they just put their mind toit.
So um, this building is full ofsupportive, encouraging uh
(12:00):
teachers that are here for youwhen you need them.
Um, but put just one foot infront of the other, and before
you know it, you'll be having anice cream celebration yourself.
So I encourage every student inthis building to challenge
themselves and to work hard, andsuccess will show up before you
(12:21):
know it.
SPEAKER_00 (12:21):
That is great advice.
Thank you so much, and thank youso much for the work that you
are doing to support our huskiesas they are moving in mass
towards an honor rollcelebration.
And I appreciate all the workthat you put into this.
This is a lot, and I can't waitto have you back on the Husky
(12:44):
Huddle for our corporatechallenge celebration as well.
SPEAKER_01 (12:47):
Thank you so much.
Thank you, thank you, thank youfor having me.
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