It was one of the most moving presentations ever at the JI Board of Governors meeting in October, 2004, as six fifth-graders simply told about their lives. "Many Governors seemed teary-eyed and they gave us a standing ovation at the end," says Heather Quill, counselor at Whittier Elementary School.
Whittier has faced huge challenges since 9/11. A third of its population comes from families at nearby Fort Detrick, the national center for anthrax research. Many kids have seen their parents deployed to Iraq and felt the stress.
The students' Board of Governors experience began at dawn. "The kids were excited. They had to get up early," says Sharon Boettinger, supervisor of counseling for Frederick County Public Schools. The school bus left at 6:45 a.m. to take them to the University of Maryland . "The students were very serious about meeting with this group of professionals," says Ms. Boettinger.
Before the Board of Governors, Ms. Quill, who grew up in a military family, began the presentation. She gave an overview of character in her life and how it developed in her career as a counselor. "I told the Board of Governors that character counts, that it can begin with one life and reach out to the world."
Then the students took the stage. Each spoke about a different Pillar and how it had affected his or her life. One girl said she had worn hair down to her waist, and she cut it off to give to make a wig for a kid with cancer. Another student discussed the recent deployment of his father for a year to the Middle East . A third, addressing responsibility, explained how she helped her mother take care of her younger brother and realized she had to behave well because her brother watched everything she did. A fourth related problems with trust in his life and that of his mother, a police officer. "Just for children to be able to tell their stories was very meaningful," says Ms. Boettinger.
The Board of Governors was "very moved by hearing from the children," says Ms. Boettinger. "I think they were thrilled to have us join them."
After the standing ovation, Ms. Quill says, "We were on cloud nine for days afterward."
The Governors typically like to hear from students at their meeting, and Whittier was a natural choice. The Maryland Center for Character Education recently honored it, and "its program is just terrific," says Ms. Boettinger.
Moreover, it responded to the deployments in an excellent way. "Rather than giving in to negative, sad feelings, we decided to use these brave men and women as examples of character," says Ms. Quill. "Kids brought in pictures and we developed a Wall of Heroes. We worked on how we could become the type of community that would think less of itself than others, of how we could reach out."
As its Heroes program developed, the school community recognized that it had many other heroes, people serving right at home. So the CC! program evolved, matching Pillars with characteristics of local heroes.
"We have been writing to soldiers all over the world since this all began," says Ms. Quill. "This year we are following the building of a hospital 40 miles north of Baghdad . We're writing to soldiers, sending pictures, telling of events from school. We received an email from Iraq just before we came down to the Board of Governors meeting. It said we had no idea how much gratification we had brought them. They'd actually created a bulletin board reading: ' Whittier 's Heroes.' So now it's come full circle. One person reaches out and now the program is a whole world away. That's really special."
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