The inspiration for CC! at Emerson High School arose when Captain Modesto Silverio, senior Marine instructor for the JROTC program, discovered the Six Pillars of Character at a character and leadership seminar in New York City. He followed up and attended a CDS seminar at Princeton in June of 2003.

That October he introduced CC! to the Emerson administrative team. “They loved the idea of bringing character education back to school,” he says. CC! became one of two major initiatives for the Accreditation for Growth of Emerson.

The school began implementation. The carpenter and students built six large pillars and placed them at the main entrance steps of the school. Then the art teacher and her students designed banners to hang atop each pillar. In January 2004 the school unveiled the Respect banner.

Before displaying the Caring banner, school officials conducted town meetings with the students in their gym classes. They explained CC! and students discussed how they could get involved.

The school unveiled the Caring banner on Parents’ Night February 26, with parents, teachers, students, administrators and members of the PTA all in attendance. In addition, the mayor of Union City sent a proclamation supporting CC! at Emerson.

“We believe that we are on the right track to implement CC! in our school,” Captain Silverio says.