Fremont Middle School students were helping their community in November 2005 by collecting hats, gloves, and coats for Low Income Ministry and Care Corps. “We brainstormed about what’s needed and what organizations in the community they’ve heard of,” said Maggie Peters, a 25-year veteran teacher who has helped make the initiative a reality. “They picked the project from that.”

Students developed the project through the school’s daily "Tiger Time" activity, where groups of students meet with teachers to learn about the Six Pillars.

“At the middle school we’ve been using CHARACTER COUNTS! for five years,” said guidance instructor and sixth grade counselor Kristin Henkenius. “It’s woven into the school day throughout the year.”

“Right now, we’re learning about being good citizens, and part of being a good citizen is volunteering and giving time to others,” Ms. Peters told the Fremont Tribune. “These students are old enough now to start giving to their community, and they’re learning what that means.

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Kids at Cody Elementary are learning about character through videos, donated by a local bank, which they take home and watch with their parents.

On these "family popcorn nights," one student each week -- in each class from second- through fifth-grade -- takes home a character lesson video with a bag of microwave popcorn. Students eat the popcorn while viewing the video with their families, and later they discuss the message together.

"It helps promote families doing constructive things together at home," principal Bob Rowe told the North Platte Telegraph in March 2005. "The more families are doing worthwhile things together, the better."

Parents appreciate the program, he said, and give it good marks in surveys. One parent wrote, "It made for special time to spend together. That was nice." Another said, "Sitting down with the family is always good. It gave us a good reason to be together."

Nebraskaland National Bank, a sponsor of North Platte's school district-wide CC! program, provided the videos. It has also donated pencils and bookmarks to Lincoln and Cody elementary schools for CC!, and encouraged employees to volunteer to help students in schools.

Kim Schroll, a vice-president of Nebraskaland National Bank, observed that the firm is investing in the town's future. "These are the kids who will eventually lead North Platte," she said.

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Willowdale Elementary had "a huge kickoff" in 2004-05 for CC!, according to Susan Kelley of the school. All the children dressed in Six Pillar colors and formed a rainbow, and they appeared on local TV. Each grade level was assigned a Pillar and color. Moreover, throughout the year each grade level did an iMovie on its Pillar, and they (along with more photos) are available here: http://www.mpsomaha.org/willow.

"It was a GREAT year with CHARACTER COUNTS!," said Ms. Kelley.

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When kindergartner Joscelyn Zimmerman heard about the tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004, she wanted to do something about it. So she went to Jenny Frerichs, her teacher at Stoddard Elementary, a CC! school, and asked how people could help.

As a result, the class held a two-week fundraiser in conjunction with the Pillar of Caring. It netted $338.69.

"That really knocks me out of my socks," said one kindergartner about the sum.

"They did a great job of raising money for people who really need it," Ms. Frerichs told the Daily Sun. "We had so much change the kids could hardly carry it."

The money went to Lutheran World Relief.

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Formerly known as Boys Town, Girls and Boys Town USA has been providing care to abused, abandoned and handicapped children for over 80 years and helping those who care for them to become effective parents. Seeking to supplement its own resources for parents, the CC! national office approached the famous charity to forge a more active collaboration. While Girls and Boys Town has been a member of the CC! Coalition for years, the new dialogue has familiarized the Omaha-based institution with CC!’s resources, says Bobbie O’Conner, Girls and Boys Town’s director of family services. She says CC! materials and programs that focus directly on character development can augment her nonprofit’s more indirect efforts at moral development (such as teaching independent living and social skills). Even more exciting for the CC! national office is the prospect of Girls and Boys Town incorporating the Six Pillars of Character into new materials for the home.

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When Gary Heusel says it would be "remarkable" to find someone involved with 4-H in Nebraska who is not familiar with CHARACTER COUNTS!, he’s not kidding. Dr. Heusel, a professor of education at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and a CC! Advisory Council member, has used his position as director of the statewide 4-H to make sure CC! has a presence in each of the state’s 93 counties. Now the goal is to make that presence pervasive; a three-day conference in February 2000 brought together legislators and business groups to spur new developments in the state’s character-education efforts. Members of the legislature are now proposing a resolution to support the use of CC! throughout the state. They have a strong base to build on already:

• About 2,000 youth and adults have been trained to teach the CHARACTER COUNTS! approach.
• CHARACTER COUNTS! programs have reached more than 31,000 youth, each of whom have been exposed to at least 15 program hours.
• 128,000 youth have been through other programs using CHARACTER COUNTS!, including day camps, one-on-one contact with Kiwanis members, Family Community Education clubs, religious school classes, employees participating in workforce training programs.
• Media information about character education has reached an estimated 700,000 youth.

More importantly, being exposed to CHARACTER COUNTS! appears to be changing the way young people behave. In a recent survey, 85 percent of Nebraska teachers and facilitators who are using the program reported an overall positive difference in the children they teach, 73 percent reported students using the language of the Six Pillars and 75 percent reported changing their own behavior as a result of teaching CHARACTER COUNTS!. Sixty-one percent reported increased frequency of seeing students help each other; fifty-five percent reported seeing few instances of students blaming others; and 50 percent reported seeing more instances of students being truthful. The teachers noted that they now had a greater awareness of themselves as models for desirable behavior and that CHARACTER COUNTS! had enabled them to focus more on students’ positive behavior.

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