The charter school that my kids are so fortunate to attend has a wonderful program based on getting the kids to learn and exemplify several Core Characteristics that are aimed at providing the foundation for achieving a great education and being a productive citizen.
I think these Core Characteristic are appropriate for everyone, not just grade schoolers and junior high students, and if everyone tried to portray them on a regular basis, well, the world would be a better place. Right?
Below is a list of the core characteristics that our school embraces, discusses, and personifies, blatantly copied from their website:
Responsibility- doing your part for the group that makes us whole.
Diligence/Work– doing what needs to be done with devotion, dedication and determination.
Compassion– feeling what others are feeling and trying to help with their troubles.
Friendship– caring for each other in all we do and say.
Courage– doing what is right in the face of fear.
Loyalty– being faithful and true to our duties, relationships and ideals.
Self-Discipline- giving the best of ourselves and saying no to our weakness.
Perseverance- pushing on despite difficulty and hardship.
Honesty- truthfulness; loving the truth, telling the truth, and living truthfully in word and deed.
All of the classes study one core value per month, and at the end of the month the student from each class who best exemplifies that Core Characteristic is honored at an assembly.
This month the Core Characteristic at school was the value of Loyalty.
“Loyalty is the pledge of truth to oneself and others.”
-Ada Valez Boardly
I was so proud when two nights ago I got the email that Annabelle had been chosen from her class to be honored this month for her demonstration of the Core Characteristic of Loyalty.
Annabelle can be so grown up in her speech and thought process that sometimes I forget she really is just a little girl, but I’m reminded by pictures like these.
Congratulations Annabelle on your award. I am so proud of you all the time, but my heart overflows at times like these (and my eyes a little, too).
On a funny, sort-of unrelated note, when we were driving to school yesterday morning Annabelle asked me if I had perhaps gotten a phone call to tell me that she was going to be Student of the Month this month. I told her no, I had not received a call.
Which was not exactly a lie, since I had gotten an email.
The awards are supposed to be a surprise to the students, so while the parents are notified beforehand so that they can be there to witness the presentation while taking pictures and sniffling, we are asked not to tell our little ones in advance that they have been chosen.
Annabelle replied “Well, good. It’s not that I really expected or even wanted to be chosen, but you know mom, I really do hate surprises.”
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, eh?
Chronicles of a Desperate Horsewife 