A new program at Carbon Career and Technical Institute will give students small rewards for doing good deeds.

Principal Brent Borzak announced during Thursday night's meeting of CCTI's joint operating committee that the program is called "Stepping Up.""We have the student of the marking period, but we wanted to look for another way to recognize students who are exhibiting positive behavior in our school," Borzak said."For example, if a student helps another student who is on crutches, or reports bullying he sees on the bus, their names will be entered to win a $10 gift card or something like that."Because such things as reports of bullying would be kept anonymous, students who receive the "good deed" rewards won't be acknowledged publicly."We'll call them down to my office and give them a gift card or some other small token for their positive behavior," Borzak said.Borzak said Thursday night that CCTI currently has 375 students enrolled and the school year has gotten off to a positive start.In what he called a record for CCTI, around 20 students are participating in extracurricular activities, mostly athletics, in their home districts."Our students and staff are excited about the new year, and the staff is working on some new initiatives and achieving schoolwide goals," Borzak said.In a personnel move, the joint operating committee approved Jacqueline Morrow as an adult education instructor at $21 per hour, pending clearances.Morrow will be teaching a new "business practices" course to students from the Youth Services Agency, who are transported by bus to CCTI for an after-school program."We have an existing program where YSA students are bused here for courses after our school day ends, and up to this point it has just been boys, but they have recently gone coed, and we developed this course for the girls at YSA," said David Reinbold, CCTI administrative director.Reinbold said the course would likely run five or six weeks for a total of 100 hours.The committee also approved a trip involving 15 CCTI culinary arts students and two staff members to attend The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia on Oct. 8.An addendum to the CCTI student handbook, approved Thursday night, allows students who score at the advanced or proficient level on a Keystone Exam to receive three hours of community service credit.