Robert Taylor’s gotcha

By Frances Vanderploeg

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008 | midnight

At Robert Taylor Elementary School, the adults and the children are finding themselves shopping like it's Christmas — the students in their newly expanded Gotcha' Store and the adults at local retailers buying enough to fill it with supplies.

The new store opened Oct. 30 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the Rotary Club of Henderson, which helped shop for supplies and will assist in staffing the store for the rest of the school year.

The store at Taylor encourages students to be model citizens by rewarding them with Gotcha' Tickets every time they do something good. Those tickets can then be used at the store to buy toys and other goods.

Students have a chance to visit the store once per month and can choose to spend all of their Gotcha' Tickets or save them for a larger item in the future.

Broadbent Associates, Frank's Auto Body, the Henderson Chamber of Commerce and RAFI Architecture donated $2,000, which was matched by the Rotary Club. Wal-Mart donated some school supplies and offered a large discount, which helped the Rotarians save money for future shopping trips. The group has $1,500 left for the remainder of the school year.

The new store has moved beyond just toys and candy, supplying students with necessities such as food, sweaters, underwear and school supplies, school counselor Cathy Busby said.

Peer mediators are helping Busby run the store by taking students through individually to help them find items or make sure they're fully using their Gotcha' Tickets. The mediators, usually older students who receive training, walk the store with their assigned student, holding their clipboard and keeping tabs on how many tickets are used and how many are left.

David Berg, 11, said he's been working with the store since last year and enjoys it.

"We teach them about how to use real money," he said.

Last year, the mediators issued loans to some of the students if they wanted to purchase a bigger item but didn't quite have enough tickets. This year, though, they won't be able to do that.

"We don't want what happened to the economy to happen to the Gotcha' Store," Busby said, only half-joking.

Some large-ticket items can cost as many as 250 Gotcha' Tickets.

Busby said the expansion will give students an opportunity to provide for themselves or their family if they choose. Many of the school's families don't have the means to provide food or new clothing for themselves, so this would give the children a chance to give something back to their parents or siblings, Busby said.

"They will buy what they need," Busby said. "They're very aware. … And this way they feel like they've got a little more to give."

Frances Vanderploeg can be reached at 990-2660 or [email protected].