Three Oakdale teachers came to a Warrick County School Board meeting in March 2004 to explain CC!.

"It's not just an add-on program, one more thing teachers have to do," said sixth grade teacher Karla Dunning, according to Warrick Publishing. "You can really implement it within the curriculum in your building. For instance, in social studies, I use it with people in history who exemplify a character trait. Sometimes they are good examples, sometimes they are not-so-good examples. It's a way to educate children in the positive ways that they can act. It lets kids know what they can do, not what they can't do, so it is a positive approach."

Oakdale Elementary received a $10,000 Serve and Learn grant from the state to launch CC! in 2003-04. Some Oakdale teachers went to CDS's in Downers Grove, Illinois, to learn how to merge the Six Pillars into classroom activities.

"At Oakdale, we've taken a different character trait each month, and we do activities for that month built around that trait," said Ms. Dunning. "What CHARACTER COUNTS! does is give you something that you can grab hold of, and you can make an effort school-wide to be talking about the same thing at the same time."

Warrick County School Superintendent Brad Schneider said he fully backed CC!, as did school board president Alan Holder. Board members say they'd like to implement CC! in other local schools, and Ms. Short and Ms. Dunning volunteered to help train administrators and teachers.