The Oak Hills Local School District's Delshire Elementary School launched CC! on Monday, January 3, 2005, the day kids returned from Christmas vacation.

During its assembly the next day, the school introduced its "CHARACTER COUNTS!/Character Creates Winners" program to kids. The event featured the Oak Hills High School boys' basketball players and coach Mike Price. As reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer, the players discussed the benefits of good character with students.

Over the following months, students heard one-minute announcements called "Words of Wisdom" every week. They learned about the Six Pillars and earned awards from teachers and the principal when they displayed them, as well as announcements of their names over the PA system.

Once again in September 2005, Winners Walk Tall was kicking into gear, bringing adults from many walks of life into classrooms to discuss character with kids.

The CC!-based program, which has operated in Dorchester County since 2000, works simply. Volunteer "character coaches" from fields like banking, real estate, construction and banking, and public service spend 15 minutes each in two classrooms every week discussing the Six Pillars.

These ambassadors from the "real world" makes a deep impression on students, Dorchester County CC! coordinator Laura Weldon told The Daily Banner.

"One of my volunteers, who owns his own business, told me of a discussion he had with his class regarding the type of person he looks for in an employee," Ms. Weldon said. "One of his students was giving him some lip, and he quickly told the young man, ‘Acting that way will never get you a job with my or anybody else's company.' Hearing that kind of message from someone other than mom or dad or a teacher really makes a lot of the students stop and think about their futures."

Ms. Weldon trains the character coaches and provides the materials. She also brings them together three more times during the year to dine, socialize and receive further training.

In response to Hurricane Katrina, 60 young people from the Edison Job Corps Academy worked in September 2005 to renovate houses in Perth Amboy that would shelter evacuees.

Student Anthony Nieves, born in New York, told the Home News Tribune, "I want to help people who helped us in the past. We lived the tragedy of 9/11 and the entire world came to our aid; it's now time for us to pay them back by lending a hand."

Many students at the vocational school, a CC! Coalition member, took their classroom knowledge of topics like building maintenance straight to the site.

"They are really excited about being able to help and put into practice the knowledge gained at the carpentry, plumbing and building maintenance workshops," said Olga Carrillo, volunteer director at the vocational center.

Others simply pitched in as necessary. "I study carpentry, but I am painting here because I am doing what can be done and what is needed," said Christopher Molina.

Sixth-grade students at Merrill Elementary held their first CC! luncheon for pupils of outstanding character in the week of October 13, according to the Des Moines Register. Parents also attended the event.

At Wright Elementary, the Character Council collected hurricane relief donations from homerooms to give to the American Red Cross. Members also raised money for CC! Thursdays at the Student Store to help pay for assemblies and activities.

Two local schools presented the words and music of "The Star-Spangled Banner" together at their football games on September 15, 2005. The event commemorated the anniversary of the national anthem, and the schools passed out fliers with its lyrics to all spectators at the games of Cambridge-South Dorchester High School and Easton High Schools. A crowd of some 1,000 people sang the song at the same time in two towns.

It was all part of the National Anthem Project, which CC! Mid Shore is promoting as part of a nationwide program to increase awareness of the song, according to The Daily Banner.

"One of the Six Pillars of Character we espouse is Citizenship," said Richard Allen, executive director of CC! Mid Shore. "In this time of natural disasters and trouble overseas, it's important for all of us to reflect on what the National Anthem means, the story behind it, and the timelessness of its message."

According to a recent Harris poll, two-thirds of Americans don't know the words to "The Star-Spangled banner," and few know the historical events the lyrics refer to. These findings inspired the Project.

CC! Mid Shore is bringing the "The Star-Spangled Banner" to citizens in other ways as well. Laura Weldon, Dorchester County coordinator for CC! Mid Shore, recently sang it at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in Salisbury. More events are on tap.

Westwood schools began implementing CC! in September 2005. "The staff is working on incorporating the Six Pillars into their interaction with one another," Henry Bietz, district superintendent and principal at Westwood High, told the Lassen County News, "and we are in the process of slowly getting the students involved in what those Six Pillars are and trying to get them to understand what it means to be trustworthy, respectful, responsible, fair, caring and a good citizen."

MacArthur School had a "super" CC! Week kickoff, according to school social worker Kassidy Lindholm. It also instituted a yearlong motivational program to encourage good character. The school focuses on one Pillar per month. At the start of the month, school personnel have students take home a Pillar flier and a home-school connection activity to encourage participation by parents and the community. There is also a Character Spirit Day each month, where students and staff don the color of the featured Pillar. The daily morning announcements reinforce that Pillar.

In addition, teachers and staff give students "CHARACTER COUNTS! tickets" when they catch them showing good character. Students place their tickets in a classroom pot, and the room with the most tickets at the end of each week receives a special honor: The principal and other staff hold a parade and end it at the winning classroom, where the principal awards a certificate and takes a class picture. The morning announcements the next school day feature these students, and a bulletin board outside the office tracks the weekly winners. The classroom with the most "wins" earns a pizza party. There is one primary winner and one intermediate winner each week, and pizza parties take place in mid-year and at the end of the year.