CC! will be half of a two-part "smaller learning community" program at Pueblo Magnet High. The school has divided the 1900-member student body into groups of 20, and each will have an adult volunteer as an advisor. The goal is to carve the massive student body into small, more personal groups where students can discuss issues and get to know each other better.

On Wednesdays they'll meet for the CHARACTER COUNTS! half of the program and working on the Six Pillars. Patricia Dienz told the Arizona Daily Star in January 2006 that students will discuss ethical issues, especially how the Pillars interact with each other.

On Thursdays, they'll spend at least 20 minutes of quiet time together, reading.

Pueblo has received a federal grant of $775,000 to create these mini-communities. The school will spend this sum over five years on teacher training, curriculum, material, teacher training, parental involvement and payment for staff who become advisers.

Schools in Frederick County collaborate routinely on CHARACTER COUNTS! projects. Staff members from each school meet regularly to share information about activities at their individual schools, and teachers throughout the county contribute to a "Best Practices CHARACTER COUNTS! Handbook," which is updated annually.

Teachers nominate students in each of Frederick County’s "feeder systems" (a high school, middle and elementary schools within a district) for exhibiting exemplary character. These students are recognized at a high school play, concert or athletic event in their district. All students throughout the county who are nominated are invited with their parents to a celebration picnic at the end of the year. Corporate sponsors provide food, T-shirts and other incentives for students. More than 1,000 people attend the picnic each year.

When Jimmy Dawson came to Granbury Middle School as principal, he realized he had to improve discipline. But he wanted to move carefully. “Anyone could have come in and carried a big stick, but that wasn’t going to correct the problem," he told the Hood County News in October 2005. So two years ago he brought in CC!. "It had to be campus-wide. CHARACTER COUNTS! allows it to be campus-wide. Everyone on campus is a stakeholder.”

And it has worked. “The year before we started CHARACTER COUNTS!, we had 65 recorded fights,” Mr. Dawson said. “Last year, we had 19. There are many values we’re trying to instill. We’re seeing progress.”

"Kids are thinking before they act," said CC! faculty sponsor Stacey Gillum, who added that the change was obvious.

The response of teachers has been “very positive,” he said. “They took the ball and ran with it. There was a need. Anytime there’s a need, change is easy.”

Among the activities:

• Pillar segments. The school devotes a six-week period to each Pillar.
• Pirate Time. Twice in each period, CC! activities take place based on the Pillar.
• Service-related fund-raisers, such as Relay for Life and Christmas for Kids. “Students collect as much money as they possibly can and then donate it,” Ms. Gillum said. “One of the biggest things they learn is that there are people out there who are needier than they are."
• The CHARACTER COUNTS! Club. A hundred students from each grade level attend meetings where speakers talk about the Pillars.
• Reminders. CC! banners adorn the walls, as do the names of the Pillars.
• The CHARACTER COUNTS! float in the homecoming parade.

The eighth annual Minot CC! Coalition American Youth Character Awards Banquet took palce Wednesday, January 25, 2006 at Minot State University. Read more about the winners here: http://www.charactercounts.org/ayca/honorees.htm

The Arizona Rangers, who played a romantic role in the history of the state, are teaching CC! to young people. The Verde Valley Company, based in Sedona and led by Captain Dee Zenk, has joined with the Yavapai Tobacco-Free Partnership to bring CC! to the fourth graders of West Sedona Elementary School. The partnership is now three years old.

Every week a Ranger in uniform goes into the classroom and teaches one of the Six Pillars. After six weeks, the students write a short essay on an occasion when they demonstrated good character. The writers of the best essays win prizes, such as t-shirts, hats and movie tickets, provided in part by the Arizona Tobacco Education and Prevention Program and Yavapai County Community Health Services. All students receive certificates of completion.

On award day, Captain Zenk and the Company’s mounted patrol unit bring their horses to the school field and demonstrate how they use the Pillars daily in the training and care of mounted police horses, as well as on duty. "Nothing says respect like 1200 pounds of horse," says Captain Zenk. Later, the students point out examples of Pillar behavior they saw in the interactions between Rangers and horses.

After the first year of this program, administrators at West Sedona Elementary School were so pleased that they found funds for teachers to bring CC! to every K-8 classroom.

The Arizona Rangers formed when Arizona was a territory. In the late 1800s they assumed the task of cleaning up banditry in areas without law enforcement, helping Arizona become a state. They received badges and swore to uphold the law, but had to provide their own horses and firearms. Today’s Arizona Rangers are volunteers; they still provide all their own equipment and uniforms, and they carry on the traditions of the Old West with their Stetsons and cowboy boots. They are trained as law enforcement support, and are dedicated to guiding and supporting the youth of their communities.

The local publication Carlsbad Current announced the students at Alta Vista Middle School who were recognized for their exemplary behavior in line with the Six Pillars of Character. Furr’s Cafeteria joined with the school to award the winning students the honor, plus a gift certificate for the restaurant.