Big Red Character (10-03-11)

On Friday, Hill City Grade School held our second annual ACTS OF CHARACTER DAY.  This event coincides with the Junior High/High School MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY, and is designed to help the kids put the concept of good character into physical action.
 
We began the day with an all school assembly. First, we celebrated all the students who have been recognized for their character this month.  Every month of so, we will focus on a new character trait. This month is Trustworthyness, and we have a large display in our main hallway to display the names of students who have shown exemplary trustworthyness.
 
The list was long, and included several students name more than once.  It also included several classes whose teacher wanted to honor the entire group.
 
Next, we had the sixth grade band play “GO BIG RED,”  and I had the students yell, “GO BIG RED - CHARACTER!”
 
During the remainder of the day, the students performed various acts of character for our school and community.  The kindergarten went to Dawson Place where they sang songs and gave hugs.  The 1st grade went around town distributing posters that read, “THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR SCHOOLS!”  The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades helped the custodian with picking up trash, pulling weeds, and sweeping sidewalks.  The 5th and 6th made collection buckets for our PTO Box Top collection. These decorated buckets have been placed around town to both remind people to collect Box Tops for our schools, and to give them more convenient locations where to drop off the collected box tops.
 
All in all, it was a great day.  The kids were well behaved and excited to be doing for others.  There were lots of smiles and hugs to go around.  
 
I have seen time and again that our students possess strong character traits.  They are trustworthy, respectful, and responsible. They are caring, fair, and are good citizens.  The school can only take a small amount of the credit – most of that goes to the parents, who are raising their children right.  Much of the credit goes to our local churches and organizations such as 4-H and the Scouts.  Character Education is not only something taught in schools.  It is taught at home, in our businesses, in our civic and religious organizations.  The students are immersed in a community where they see people of all ages making a difference with acts of character every day.
 
Make a Difference Day and Acts of Character Day may only happen once a year in our schools, but everyday is a chance to show our Big Red Character.  We are all the Ringnecks, the mighty, mighty Ringnecks, and together, we can soar to new heights.