Calvert Street School held its First Annual CHARACTER COUNTS! Essay Contest on March 15, 2004. All fourth and fifth grade students took part and the winners gave their speeches in a CC! assembly. "We feel that this project will have lasting positive effects on our students," said Sheila Clapkin of the school.

Here are excerpts from some of the winning essays:

"Having the Six Pillars of Character to me seems like six different powers. You can feel like a superhero and help people in different ways and in different situations." 
-- Ali Faghihi

"You have to be responsible for everything you do. If you want to be responsible you have to think ahead, set reasonable goals, and don't give up easily." 
-- Karon J. Christie

"Respect means you have to be considerate. You can test yourself. If you talk in class you are not respectful, but if you don't talk in class then you are respectful, at least when the teacher is talking. Take the test. It really rocks." 
-- Sidney Ann Straussner

"I play on a Little league team. Part of being on a team is learning to play fair by following the rules of the game. Everyone is treated equally because in 'team' there is no 'I.' … The rules I have learned in baseball I can use in real life." 
-- Andrew Chavez

"Around Calvert School it is nice to pick up the trash to respect the school." 
-- Marcus Davis

"If you are walking down the street playing ding-dong ditch and get caught, you must be responsible for what you do. So if you blame it on your friend, that's not taking responsibility for what you did. If you are too scared to get into trouble for what you did then that tells you that you are not responsible." 
-- Antonio Allen