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.