Students and faculty of Riverdale Heights Elementary celebrated their 10th year anniversary in CC! style. First, they had an all-school picture, in which over 690 students and faculty lined up in the shape of the Six Pillars.

The event also included a walk-a-thon fundraiser and Six Pillar t-shirts for students, sponsored by the PTA. The school has a community garden with CC!-related steppingstones, and it plays Aretha Franklin’s “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” during passing periods.

In addition, every adult employed at the building is responsible for a "troupe" of nine to 10 students from kindergarten through sixth grade. These troupes are "small families" within the school, and each month every one has a meeting focused on one of the Pillars.

"We had a great time with the event and continue to celebrate the Pillars of Character," said principal Jim Wichman.

Joseph Melillo Middle School has used CC! for the past eight years, and according to principal John Petonito, "The main thing is that kids come to recognize that this is the standard and we are not going to lower expectations. To us that is very important, especially in dealing with adolescents who are maturing and developing."

Some of the effects are clear. For instance, by December of the 2004-5 school year, the student council has gathered 2,400 cans of food and over 800 boxes of bran and muffin mix for the East Haven Food Bank. In addition, students raised over $300 for the Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund and $260 for the March of Dimes.

Last year students used a penny war to raise $6,000 to fight leukemia, and the year before they raised $7,000.

"It is plain and simple. It is about teaching kids to be fair. It serves as a model, not only in school, but how we hope they will live their lives," Mr. Petonito said in a Shore Publishing periodical.

The school recognizes one student per grade level each month for conduct and scholastic achievement, and selects 50 to 60 students every month as Team Achievers. "I have had some kids who are in high school come back and tell me that they still have their certificates," said Petonito.

Pillar posters abound in the school, and the school stresses a different Pillar each month. It also holds an annual assembly on the Pillars, and in 2004-5 it planned an anti-violence assembly as well.

Easton Elementary School is continuing their recycling efforts this year. Focusing on Citizenship with this project, students collect plastic bottles from breakfast and lunch under the supervision of Mrs. Linda DePrima, the school volunteer coordinator. Since the beginning of the school year (August 24) to November 18 a total of 31,851 bottles have been recycled. Neither the students nor the school receive prizes or money for their efforts. They share the pride in protecting the environment.

CHARACTER COUNTS! Mid Shore and Easton Elementary recently introduced their “CHARACTER COUNTS! Literacy Corner” in the Media Center. Character-based books and a computer for parents to use make the corner a cozy spot for students and their parents. This pilot project is funded in part by Verizon Foundation.

"Our school is facing new deployments, new enrollment and gang activity all at once," says counselor Heather Quill of Whittier Elementary. "It could be easy for morale to sag, yet our character education program miraculously draws us close."

One inspiration has been a new superhero. "Our second grade team took us to a whole new level for CC! Week," she says. "They invented 'Captain TRRFCC!' who turns ordinary kids into everyday heroes using his Character Power. You should see and hear how the kids and grownups have responded!"

Another innovative project is hero-wear, apparel with the CC! logo in the "O" of "HERO." Ms. Quill had gotten permission to use the logo from the national office, then the school developed the clothes and shared the story in a letter that went home with all 775 students. She says the hero-wear is "creating quite a stir throughout our community! It is amazing how it has people talking about the Pillars of Character!"

The school has also placed the hero-wear on display in the front lobby, next to its soldier wall (with photos of deployed parents). "It has been wonderful to see the reaction of our men and women in uniform when they see the hero-wear display," she says. "We even just received a letter from the commander at base thanking us for our commitment to CC! and commending us for including her men and women in 'even a small portion' of the character development of our youth."

In Cathedral City schools, CC! came in after DARE, according to teacher Tiffany Silva, and a policeman who trained at a CDS now does a program with fifth graders. Cathedral City Elementary School has also begun a point system. A class receives a point when it shows good character by behavior such as lining up promptly and staying quiet. When it earns 20 points, the class gets to go to the CC! party at the end of the month. "Sometimes they watch one of the videos and share ice cream, play games," said Ms. Silva. "This past month we made CC! banners for our MPR."

Among the multitude of CC! activities in the Poway schools:

• Park Village Elementary -- Teacher Ricardo Cecena and his staff took a CDS in July 2004. "I just want to tell you that CC! has made a positive difference in our overall school climate," he says. "We have seen a decrease in the amount of disciplinary problems schoolwide and parents have also noted that they like being able to use a common vocabulary when they talk with their children. Thank you for all of the great ideas that you presented at our last seminar. They have truly made a difference at our school."
• Creekside Elementary -- Student support specialist Michelle Wiese runs a club that meets after school and works on the Pillars throughout the year. The club sponsored a pet caring contest, in which students drew pictures or included photos of themselves with their pets and wrote a paragraph on how their care for them. These works went on display in the multipurpose room. In the fall of 2004 classes made 145 Thanksgiving cards and distributed them to an assisted living home in town.
• Garden Road Elementary -- This staff started the 2005 school year wearing CHARACTER COUNTS! T-shirts on dress-down Fridays. In the spring of 2005, the kids began ordering them
• Pomerado Elementary -- The newsletter highlights a Pillar each month, posts it on the bulletin board, and hangs banners in the multipurpose room. Staff members wear CC! T-shirts and students pass a beautifully drawn mural as they enter the school.
• Westwood Elementary -- The school has rewritten its discipline plan and rewards program to reflect the Six Pillars, and includes character messages in its communications with parents. It also held a "Character Rocks" assembly with Phil Baker. In the library, Six Pillar posters adorn the walls "and we refer to them all the time," says librarian Barbara Chappell-Brown. She also reads to students and asks them whether the characters in the stories exhibit the Pillars. "I'm so glad I participated in the CHARACTER COUNTS! program," she says. "It has enhanced my life."
  

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.