When it comes to honesty, trust, respect and responsibility, a recent study shows that Greencastle-Antrim School District students “are like all kids across the nation,” according to one administrator.

The 2006 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth by the Josephson Institute of Ethics compared the answers of 636 Greencastle-Antrim High School students with students nationwide.

Students participating in the study answered 62 questions ranging from how safe they feel at school to whether it is worthwhile to cheat on a test…

The final question on the survey asked students how many of the questions they answered with total honesty. About 75 percent of Greencastle students said they answered every question honestly, while out of about 35,000 students who took the survey nationwide, only 73 percent said they answered every question honestly.

Greencastle was on par with the nation ethically, but not on every question of the survey...

This was the first time Greencastle-Antrim students participated in the study, and Crider said the data will prove invaluable…

“The study puts numbers and data to the ethical concepts we teach,” Crider said. “It tells me our character education program is working.”

Beginning in primary school, Greencastle-Antrim School District teaches Character Counts!, a program that stresses to students the importance of six pillars of character — trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship…

The above excerpts are from an article that ran in the Herald-Mail. To read the full article, click here.

The Character Program Committee of Oswego has announced the winners of the Character Counts program for the fall quarter of 2006.

Winners include: Joey Corbino, 13, for citizenship; Vanessa Cuevas, 15, for caring; Arrissa Dinges, 15, for respect; Madison Lockard, 7, for responsibility; Laura Nemetz, adult category, for citizenship; and Katie Ziemnik, 15, for responsibility. The winners were presented with a certificate and T-shirt.

Toyota of Stuart has stepped up this year to help CHARACTER COUNTS! sustain the annual Joe Kordick Youth Character Awards.

With an $8,000 contribution, Toyota of Stuart has become major sponsor of the program.

The awards will be presented at 7 p.m. Jan. 24 at the Wolf High-Technology Center on the Chastain Campus of IRCC, 2400 Salerno Road, Stuart.

The awards are named in honor of the late Joe Kordick, founding chairman and driving force of CHARACTER COUNTS! in Martin County. The awards go to eighth- and 12th-grade students who have demonstrated uncompromising integrity, community service and the six pillars of character — Trustworthiness, Responsibility, Respect, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship. 

In 2001, Mr. Kordick left a legacy to fund the Youth Character Awards with $10,000 each year for 10 years. With the growth of Martin County and the addition of more schools, new sponsors were needed to keep the prizes at the same levels as in past years. 

Other sponsors include Kramer, Sopko & Levenstein, PA and Proctor, Crook & Crowder Inc.

This year, eighth-grade recipients will each receive a $1,000 savings bond and high school winners will each receive a $2,000 check.

The nomination process for the awards was opened to the community-at-large this year. Previously, nominations were limited to faculty and staff from the schools.

Out of more than 60 nominations, 15 outstanding students were selected as Youth Character Award recipients: 

Clark Advanced Learning Center – Amanda Brown
Challenger School – Timothy Jones
Jensen Beach High School – Michael Alexander, Danielle Blakeslee
Martin County High School – Lauren Cavette
South Fork High School – Andrea Ramos
Dr. David L. Anderson Middle School – Karely Aguilar, Derrick Edwards II
Hidden Oaks Middle School – Heather Bateman, Jonathan Tobias
Indiantown Middle School – Jessica Gutierrez, Raquel Molina
Murray Middle School – Lexi Gioseffi, Michael Li
Stuart Middle School – Lisa Bresson, Emily Holland

Pictured above: Toyota of Stuart owner John Pierson (center) receives thanks for his sponsorship from Holly Laiben, director of CHARACTER COUNTS! in Martin County, and Ronnie Houck, chairman of the CHARACTER COUNTS! in Martin County advisory board.

Brandon, South Dakota had an impressive response to their Foundations for Life essay contest. Although the city claims a modest 7,800 residents, a total of 213 essays were submitted in the community contest.

South Dakota students outside Brandon have a chance to participate in the Foundations for Life essay contest as well, as the 4-H Cooperative Extension is currently sponsoring a state-wide contest open to 4th, 7th and 9th grades.

Educators at Diamondback Elementary School, a CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition member, took part in a large gathering of nearly 300 Bullhead City teachers for the district’s Professional Development Day in January.

Joe Buzzelli, principal at Diamondback Elementary School, gave a talk on CHARACTER COUNTS! to introduce teachers to the Six Pillars. He reassured his audience that the framework can be easily integrated into an educator's hectic schedule -- and that it can be worked into any subject.

“Teachers say they have too much on their plate already,” Buzzelli said. “And we try to say Character Counts is the plate that all other subjects rest on.”

The CC! presentation enhanced other discussion topics, ranging from differentiation and understanding students, recognizing when students might be homeless, and understanding the brain, to the use of new technology. Buzzelli said the 8-hour day taught the staff new job skills and also gave them a chance to meet and share ideas.

Enthusiastic attendee Buffy Moreno, instructional specialist at Diamondback Elementary School, valued the insightful discussions. “A lot of people [were] talking about things they got out of each session and people were refreshed and inspired to try some of those ideas out in the classroom,” she said. “It re-energized me and re-focused me.”

Read more in the Mohave Daily News.

A TRRFCC! Time was had by all at the 7th Annual MLK "Dream Team" Celebration today at the Paramount Theatre.  Over 1,000 ACS Elementary & Middle School students participated, representing the Random Acts of Service & Character-In-Action activities that began in November, and continued through the Holiday Season.

By Lorin Shields-Michel

[This story is reprinted from the CHARACTER COUNTS! Chronicle, a free monthly e-newsletter. Subscribe here.]

Many people have speculated on the lesson imparted by Shakespeare in his most famous soliloquy:

To be or not to be,
That is the question.
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing, end them.

Some see a relevance to the crisis facing today’s young princes and princesses: that "to take arms against a sea of troubles" is a rallying cry to learn how to defend oneself in the real world.

Although by high school, most teens have accumulated a variety of weapons in their arsenal (English, math, science, history), many lack the most important preparatory tool of all -- ethics, a subject to which the Bard devoted more than a few verses.

Character is also a subject Eldonna Caudill feels passionately about. As youth program coordinator for the Tulare County Workforce Investment Board (TCWIB) in central California, she shows teens, both in and out of high school, that values can be not only a way of life, but a way to make a living.

As founder of the non-profit organization Cultivating Character, Niki Wartenburg works to spread character-building messages throughout South Carolina. She directed media attention to this pursuit by highlighting CHARACTER COUNTS! in her platform during the Mrs. International 2006 competition and as Mrs. South Carolina International 2005.

A primary focus of her efforts is lobbying for more government support of character education in South Carolina schools and international communities. Representative Henry Brown has responded by supporting CC! Week with an announcement about the initiative during a Congressional Session. South Carolina’s governor Mark Sanford issued a CC! Week 2006 Proclamation, as well as a proclamation supporting the state’s second annual CC! Month. Mrs. Wartneburg will continue to pursue these opportunities as a Mrs. United States hopeful.

Gail Keith, executive director of the CC! in Jacksonville, led an organizational meeting focused on curbing homicides by bolstering the city’s character-building efforts. City leaders, including Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford, met in City Hall to kick off the initiative.

"We need a two-prong approach of enforcement and prevention, and prevention is more important," the sheriff said.

The Jacksonville CC! Coalition will hold workshops to teach core values like reliability and self control. Task force members also include leaders from other agencies and businesses in Jacksonville, and Keith hopes the entire community will get involved. Keith knows this will not be easy and will not stop crime right away, but, she says “you have to start somewhere.”

Read more in articles from the Florida Times-Union and First Coast News.

Young Audiences of Santa Cruz County partnered with the Santa Cruz County School Superintendent's Office and America Cares Partnerships in Character Education to offer a residency program for Calabasas Middle School seventh graders in Rio Rico. During the 10-day program, students explore the importance of good character through performance art workshops.

Participants share their experiences with sixth graders at Calabasas Middle School following the program. YA Director Connie Hutzel explained that the mentorship allows both grade levels to “learn that caring means looking out for other people and that strong character isn't found in the muscles or mind, but in the heart. Respect is the golden rule. Trustworthiness is being truthful with yourself and others."

Young Audiences organizes several performances during the year, inviting the community to support the student performers and their character-building efforts. 

Westwood Elementary, a CC! school, was recognized nationally last week for their character-building efforts through a third-grade knitting club. The group partnered with Save the Children to knit for newborns in Bangladesh and Malawi. 

School members were invited to lobby on Capitol Hill as well as to visit with the First Lady's chief of staff at the White House. Their story was featured on the front page of the Houston Chronicle.

Read more about the project in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.