Farmington, NM: CHARACTER COUNTS! Pep Rally
CHARACTER COUNTS! spirit is off the charts as these young ladies rally in Farmington, New Mexico August 21 for U.S. Senator Pete Domenici!
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September 17, 2007
July 16, 2007
Chaves County, NM: CC! Leadership Camp Gets Students on Their Feet
Students step it up at the second annual CHARACTER COUNTS! in Chaves County Summer Leadership Camp. Held at the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico, from June 11-14, 2007, the camp focuses on the Six Pillars of Character to motivate student leaders and their advisors. Participants also learn about developing and sustaining their community-wide CHARACTER COUNTS! program.
Participants included 78 students and 21 adult advisors from 20 New Mexico schools — a significant increase from last year's program. Plans for next year's camp are already underway.
May 25, 2006
Las Cruces, NM: "Win With Honor, Lose With Grace"
The Las Cruces Public Schools and the City of Las Cruces Recreation Section Athletic Programs celebrate character with these imaginative banners.
Las Cruces Public Schools and the City of Las Cruces Recreation Section Athletic Programs have implemented CC! into various programs and promoted Pursuing Victory with Honor in the sports programs. Through their commitment to the Six Pillars and rules of sportsmanship, they have become a model of success for bridging the gap between the public schools and city government.
Student-athletes, coaches, athletic administrators, fans, and parents strive to be hardworking, prepared, persevering, empathetic, courageous, fair, and self-sacrificing team players. Claudia Chávez of the City of Las Cruces described their commitment as “win with honor, lose with grace, and strive through both to bring pride and respect to our schools, our sport, our teammates, our adversaries, and ourselves.”
February 26, 2006
Argus, NM: Alta Vista Students Recognized for Exemplifying Six Pillars
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.
September 22, 2005
Carlsbad, NM: CC! Activities Include Thanksgiving Food Drive
Over 50 needy families will enjoy a real Thanksgiving dinner in 2005 -- with turkey, gravy mix, potatoes, rice, vegetables and pie -- thanks to Terri Judah.
As part of CC!, for the last five years Ms. Judah has mounted a Thanksgiving food drive at the Early Childhood Education Center. She handed out food baskets to 19 families in the first year, and to 53 in 2004.
She and her aides are accepting food and cash donations until the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. At that point, Ms. Judah told the Current-Argus, the serious labor begins. For hours, she and Center staff members sort through the donations and fill the baskets.
"I'm very passionate about it." Ms. Judah said. "Every year [the number of families] gets larger, and I get crazy and worry if we'll have enough donations. But each year, we have enough. When everyone comes to get their baskets, that's when I know it's all worth it."
August 22, 2005
Grants, NM: Hundreds Attend Sportsmanship Presentation at Grants High School
It was standing room only for the Pursuing Victory With Honor seminar on August 16, 2005, as more than 500 people crowded into the Grants High School cafeteria.
Though attendance was mandatory for athletes and their parents at three local schools, the turnout still overwhelmed both Robert Zayes, spokesman for the New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA), and Elmer Chavez, athletic director of the Grants/Cibola County District. "It is really great to see all of you folks here tonight," Mr. Zayes said.
People were still entering through the doors as the lights dimmed, the crowd grew quiet, and the NMAA started its video on PVWH.
It began with a brief segment from Gary Tripp, the executive director of the NMAA. Mr. Tripp outlined the three goals of the NMAA: 1) top-notch state tournaments; 2) fast feedback to coaches, administrators, parents and students; and 3) Pursuing Victory with Honor.
The video presentation explained PVWH and the Six Pillars in detail. It also showed clips of teams and individuals conducting themselves badly, and discussed them. "It all starts with the professional athletes. Almost every day, we see this poor behavior on the television," said Mr. Zayes. "And then the media feeds off if it, and this is what today's youth see."
The meeting lasted two hours, and the audience, according to the Cibola County Beacon, "remained focused on the message that was being delivered."
February 12, 2005
Los Alamos, NM: Chamisa Elementary's CC! Program Organizes Tsunami Relief
As part of CC! at Chamisa Elementary, kids helped raise money for tsunami victims in January 2005. "Students came up with the idea of putting a collection jar in each room," principal Kate Thomas told the Los Alamos Monitor. Parents sent in donations, but the school also encouraged students to do their part by earning the money.
Ms. Thomas highlighted students "like Matthew Schauer who gave $100 of his own money, and the Middle Team group [of third- and fourth-graders] who came up with a Fun Run and pulled it off."
The kids raised $1,001 for the Red Cross. Fourth-grade teacher Katie McCulloch said, "All of the teachers are proud of the initiative the students took on their own to raise that money."
The students next commenced a "Pennies for Patients" drive. Doctors had diagnosed Chamisa fourth-grader Cody Aiken with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and since "Pennies for Patients" helps kids children in similar straits, the students had a personal connection. They raised $1,018 for the Leukemia Foundation.
Britton Doharl, teacher and leader of the Student Council program, said, "These activities empower the students to apply the characteristics of the CHARACTER COUNTS! program. I think a group such as Student Council had the chance to show what great things can be accomplished when a group of devoted, thoughtful students work together."
Principal Thomas added, "Because a single character trait was emphasized and discussed each month through brainstorming activities with the school counselor and follow-up in the classrooms, the students have been very conscious of the CHARACTER COUNTS! program. Each student has a chart on which he or she track positive character activities completed by the student."
January 22, 2005
Los Alamos, NM: Pillars of Character Are 'Tools' at Chamisa Elementary
CC! began at Chamisa Elementary in late October 2004, when principal Kate Thomas and counselor Diane Tuttle launched it at a kind of pep rally, announcing the vision "Put Your Best Foot Forward in Scholarship, Character and Life!"
The Pillar of the Month for November was citizenship, to tie in with the elections, and Chamisa students held a mock election.
In December they focused on caring and gathered items for the needy. The class put together a Christmas tree graced with items needed by families in northern New Mexico. Their efforts brightened Christmas for children from Alcalde Elementary School, infants from Hope Pregnancy Center and elderly residents from Sombrillo Nursing Home.
They gathered food and donated it to the Los Alamos Cares Food Bank, and collected and gave two needy families a week's worth of food, gifts for the children, a set of clothes and toiletry items.
The Los Alamos Monitor noted that the Pillars would be in these elementary kids' "tool box" all their lives.
"The 'tools' are extremely important in their personal life," Ms. Tuttle told the paper. "But also for the future of our community and society as a whole. I think we have seen all too vividly how the lack of these character traits in many areas of our society has seriously impacted all of us."
September 20, 2004
Roswell, NM: Main Street Gets Six Pillar Mural
Over the 2004 Labor Day weekend, September 4-6, cadets from New Mexico Youth ChalleNGe -- in cooperation with CHARACTER COUNTS! In Chaves County -- painted a large mural on the south wall of the Overmier Firestone building, 125 South Main Street, in Roswell. The mural shows the Six Pillars of Character and reminds all who travel through Roswell and Chaves County to observe and exhibit good character.
Under the supervision of Kate Davis, ENMU-R instuctor, the cadets worked on site from Friday through the completion of the mural on Monday, Labor Day. Captain Jose Gallegos, of the Youth ChalleNGe program, was with the cadets throughout.
Under the supervision of Kate Davis, ENMU-R instuctor, the cadets worked on site from Friday through the completion of the mural on Monday, Labor Day. Captain Jose Gallegos, of the Youth ChalleNGe program, was with the cadets throughout.
September 12, 2004
Portales, NM: Over a Decade Later, School District Remains Enthusiastic About CC! Program
The Portales Municipal School District was one of the first in the nation to adopt CC!. It launched CC! in 1993 as part of its vision plan, and the program remains vibrant and varied throughout the district.
Glenda Meeks, now assistant principal at Portales Junior High, was instrumental in bringing CC! to Portales as a fifth-grade Title I teacher. “I was watching a program on 20/20 about CHARACTER COUNTS!," she told the Portales News-Tribune in August 2004, "and felt our kids could really use the information."
Elementary school counselor Lisa Harrell has led CC! for the past seven years. “Everyone can benefit from CHARACTER COUNTS! whether in the public school or in the community,” she said. “Whether we realize it or not, the Six Pillars of Character are a part of our lives and personality. It’s just a matter of bringing them out of us. If everyone in our schools and community followed the six concepts, we’d get along better because we’d have respect for one another without giving up who we are."
Becky Flen, principal of Steiner Elementary, said, “Everyone is being held accountable for teaching students that CHARACTER COUNTS! and the community looks up to us to follow through with this. We’re giving students a tool to rely upon later in their lives to help them make decisions.”
June 22, 2004
Statewide, NM: CC! Programs Revitalized
New Mexico was a pioneer in launching CHARACTER COUNTS!, and in 2004 it became a pioneer in revitalizing it. Every CC! program needs refreshing occasionally, but none had yet made the effort on a statewide scale. New Mexico is helping show the way, with a clearinghouse and facilitation center for CC! programs around the state.
It began with a call early in 2004 from the state's senior U.S. senator Pete Domenici, who spearheaded the original launch in 1993. He phoned Paula Maes ("my-ezz"), the president of the New Mexico Broadcasters Association and a member of the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education, and asked, "Can you help me get the program revitalized?"
She was happy to. "It had gotten stale. Things weren't happening," Ms. Maes says. "We're trying to regenerate and put more life into the program."
The revitalization initiative got two important breaks at the outset: a paid full-time coordinator and paid-for office space. "We got very lucky that the Albuquerque Public School District, the largest in the state, with 85,000 students, gave us a permanent loan executive to be executive director," says Ms. Maes. That individual was Carole Smith, the longtime CC! coordinator for Albuquerque schools. "That's the piece that was missing, one person in a paid position to coordinate things. And we were also very fortunate that the Chamber of Commerce gave us a permanent office space."
Ms. Maes early on understood that revitalization had to be statewide. "In New Mexico, we have only one center of population, in Albuquerque. A lot of people think Albuquerque is the be-all-and-end-all. But there are some very successful CHARACTER COUNTS! organizations in the state. We're trying to get them all under one umbrella."
The program is still exploring routes to success. As coordinator Carole Smith notes, "At first, we thought we’d go out to districts and ask them to pay 75 cents per student. But then we decided to waive the fee, so schools can be involved for free." Instead, the program has relied on corporate grants and sponsorships. "We've had real good support from Sandia National Laboratories, Intel, the Public Service Company of New Mexico [a state utility], and Northrup Grumman."
Ms. Smith notes, "We want to be a cooperative and a go-to place for Schools. If they need trainings, we'll help them get that. If they'retrying to get the program going and need information and strategies,we give them that. We'll be the resource that can help them get going." Adds Ms. Maes, "It's a matter of organizing people, offeringthem services, getting them to network."
The first meeting took place in March. Next on the agenda is a September one-day awareness training in Las Vegas, New Mexico, which is free to anyone representing an organization in the state. The program is also planning a luncheon and scholarship program, for next March. It may approach the Legislature seeking funds and an official imprimatur.
"We can help people wade through problems," says Ms. Smith. "There are districts in New Mexico that have gone through this, and we can use their experience to help the others. Why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to?"
It began with a call early in 2004 from the state's senior U.S. senator Pete Domenici, who spearheaded the original launch in 1993. He phoned Paula Maes ("my-ezz"), the president of the New Mexico Broadcasters Association and a member of the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education, and asked, "Can you help me get the program revitalized?"
She was happy to. "It had gotten stale. Things weren't happening," Ms. Maes says. "We're trying to regenerate and put more life into the program."
The revitalization initiative got two important breaks at the outset: a paid full-time coordinator and paid-for office space. "We got very lucky that the Albuquerque Public School District, the largest in the state, with 85,000 students, gave us a permanent loan executive to be executive director," says Ms. Maes. That individual was Carole Smith, the longtime CC! coordinator for Albuquerque schools. "That's the piece that was missing, one person in a paid position to coordinate things. And we were also very fortunate that the Chamber of Commerce gave us a permanent office space."
Ms. Maes early on understood that revitalization had to be statewide. "In New Mexico, we have only one center of population, in Albuquerque. A lot of people think Albuquerque is the be-all-and-end-all. But there are some very successful CHARACTER COUNTS! organizations in the state. We're trying to get them all under one umbrella."
The program is still exploring routes to success. As coordinator Carole Smith notes, "At first, we thought we’d go out to districts and ask them to pay 75 cents per student. But then we decided to waive the fee, so schools can be involved for free." Instead, the program has relied on corporate grants and sponsorships. "We've had real good support from Sandia National Laboratories, Intel, the Public Service Company of New Mexico [a state utility], and Northrup Grumman."
Ms. Smith notes, "We want to be a cooperative and a go-to place for Schools. If they need trainings, we'll help them get that. If they'retrying to get the program going and need information and strategies,we give them that. We'll be the resource that can help them get going." Adds Ms. Maes, "It's a matter of organizing people, offeringthem services, getting them to network."
The first meeting took place in March. Next on the agenda is a September one-day awareness training in Las Vegas, New Mexico, which is free to anyone representing an organization in the state. The program is also planning a luncheon and scholarship program, for next March. It may approach the Legislature seeking funds and an official imprimatur.
"We can help people wade through problems," says Ms. Smith. "There are districts in New Mexico that have gone through this, and we can use their experience to help the others. Why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to?"
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- Farmington, NM: CHARACTER COUNTS! Pep Rally
- Chaves County, NM: CC! Leadership Camp Gets Students on Their Feet
- Las Cruces, NM: "Win With Honor, Lose With Grace"
- Argus, NM: Alta Vista Students Recognized for Exemplifying Six Pillars
- Carlsbad, NM: CC! Activities Include Thanksgiving Food Drive
- Grants, NM: Hundreds Attend Sportsmanship Presentation at Grants High School
- Los Alamos, NM: Chamisa Elementary's CC! Program Organizes Tsunami Relief
- Los Alamos, NM: Pillars of Character Are 'Tools' at Chamisa Elementary
- Roswell, NM: Main Street Gets Six Pillar Mural
- Portales, NM: Over a Decade Later, School District Remains Enthusiastic About CC! Program
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