When Mr. Hein joined the PVHS faculty in 2017, a new currency bestowed the school, Juicy J’s. At the cost of 10 cents per Juicy J for Mr. Hein, a student must either be a good community member and help their fellow classmates or have correctly answer class discussion questions to receive them and can exchange them to raise their grades. Juicy J’s are an integral part to how Mr. Hein runs his classroom, “ I wouldn’t get rid of them” he said in a statement.

The concept of Mr. Hein’s currency dates back to his high school days. He had an AP Lit teacher for his senior year where they had ills. Ills were signed pieces of tape that a student would receive for showcasing creativity or diligence, so the parallels are clearly present, but what about its name? In his freshman year of college, Mr. Hein was nicknamed Juicy J by his roommates. As for why? Mr. Hein isn’t entirely sure why himself, but he does pinpoint to the fact that his first name is Johnny so it could derive from that. After being called Juicy J, he thought it would be a funny name for a currency.

The system he has in play is one he recommends other teachers to adopt, “ Everyone understands money, having something tangible for their grades, having it is a good way to give credit from not just grades.” After explaining the Juicy J to other teachers, it received mix reactions. On the one hand, Geometry teacher Mr. Roberts is very open to the idea, likes the concept since it provides motivation but if he did he would install a cap. On the other hand, a teacher who will remain anonymous sees no educational value in the concept and considers it bribery. There are those who see the benefit to Juicy J’s but also wouldn’t implement the system. Mr. Bedwell acknowledges to encourage good behavior as well as good citizenship, but would rather find an alternative to Juicy J’s that doesn’t affect grades since “The grade is supposed to reflect the mastery of the subject.” Ms. Deinhard wouldn’t implement since her teaching philosophy is that there should be no extra credit given if they haven’t completed the work already assigned. AP US History teacher Mr. Frattini is content with the extra credit he already provides to his students and thus would see the implementation of the concept as irrelevant for his class, but he sees that it works for Mr. Hein’s classroom.

What’s in store for Juicy J’s is that some aesthetic changes may be coming. In the future, Mr. Hein would like to include the faces of other teachers and not just of his own and former students. An idea he threw out was a Juicy J 100 with the face of our principal. Some teachers have also agreed to put their face on a Juicy J, so you might see a Juicy J with Mr. Bedwell or Mr. Frattini.