All aboard the character express
The character education theme for Orrville City Schools upcoming academic year is “All Aboard the Character Express.” Each year, the Character Education subcommittee of the Heartland Education Community, Inc. develops a theme to incorporate the character education words of the month into the curriculum for all grade levels of the Orrville City Schools.
According to Beverly Waseman, Character Education Committee chairperson and Orrville Elementary School principal, the committee is excited about this year’s theme.
“The Character Express ties in many of the things we strive for in our yearly themes,” said Waseman. “It involves our community because of Orrville’s strong foundation as a railroad town, it reinforces the message that we want everyone ‘on board’ with character education in our schools, and it provides opportunities for creative service projects for our students to demonstrate their commitment to good character.”
The first service project for “All Aboard the Character Express” happens during Character Education Week, Sept. 19-23. The committee wants to “Fill a Train Car” with nonperishable, personal care items for the Orrville Salvation Army. This community-wide effort to fill a train car will be on Friday, Sept. 23, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Schools, businesses, community groups, and individuals are encouraged to collect personal care items such as toothpaste, soap, shampoo, toilet paper, detergent, and paper towels to deliver to the train car on Sept. 23. The train car will be parked at Eastwood Manufacturing Reloading Depot, 245 McGill Street, where McGill meets Pine Street.
“This is a great way for our kids to become involved with a project that has a direct affect on other people’s lives,” said Waseman. “Kids of all ages will be helping to collect the items at the schools, and we have high school students scheduled to help load the items into the train car on Friday. The football team will deliver everything to the Salvation Army on Saturday morning the 24th.”
Another visible display of students’ good character will be at Heartland Point in downtown Orrville during Character Education Week. Students are encouraged to do good deeds for family members and friends to earn paper train cars with their names on them. The cars will then decorate the front window of Heartland Point for the entire community to see how actively Orrville students display good character.
The Character Education Committee is responsible for implementing the character component of Heartland’s Basic Beliefs – the Five C’s: Community, Connecting Learning to Life, Critical Thinking, Character Development, and Continuous Improvement. Its most visible program, Character Education Words of the Month, recently received a Promising Practices award from the national organization Character Education Partnership. Other character initiatives include ethical literacy programs in both the middle and high schools and training for teachers from the Institute for Global Ethics.
The Heartland Education Community, Inc. was formed in 1991 as a coalition of volunteer community members dedicated to exploring ways to leverage the talent and resources of the community for the betterment of education. The goal of Heartland is to shift the focus from school to education and shift the responsibility from school to community.
According to Beverly Waseman, Character Education Committee chairperson and Orrville Elementary School principal, the committee is excited about this year’s theme.
“The Character Express ties in many of the things we strive for in our yearly themes,” said Waseman. “It involves our community because of Orrville’s strong foundation as a railroad town, it reinforces the message that we want everyone ‘on board’ with character education in our schools, and it provides opportunities for creative service projects for our students to demonstrate their commitment to good character.”
The first service project for “All Aboard the Character Express” happens during Character Education Week, Sept. 19-23. The committee wants to “Fill a Train Car” with nonperishable, personal care items for the Orrville Salvation Army. This community-wide effort to fill a train car will be on Friday, Sept. 23, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Schools, businesses, community groups, and individuals are encouraged to collect personal care items such as toothpaste, soap, shampoo, toilet paper, detergent, and paper towels to deliver to the train car on Sept. 23. The train car will be parked at Eastwood Manufacturing Reloading Depot, 245 McGill Street, where McGill meets Pine Street.
“This is a great way for our kids to become involved with a project that has a direct affect on other people’s lives,” said Waseman. “Kids of all ages will be helping to collect the items at the schools, and we have high school students scheduled to help load the items into the train car on Friday. The football team will deliver everything to the Salvation Army on Saturday morning the 24th.”
Another visible display of students’ good character will be at Heartland Point in downtown Orrville during Character Education Week. Students are encouraged to do good deeds for family members and friends to earn paper train cars with their names on them. The cars will then decorate the front window of Heartland Point for the entire community to see how actively Orrville students display good character.
The Character Education Committee is responsible for implementing the character component of Heartland’s Basic Beliefs – the Five C’s: Community, Connecting Learning to Life, Critical Thinking, Character Development, and Continuous Improvement. Its most visible program, Character Education Words of the Month, recently received a Promising Practices award from the national organization Character Education Partnership. Other character initiatives include ethical literacy programs in both the middle and high schools and training for teachers from the Institute for Global Ethics.
The Heartland Education Community, Inc. was formed in 1991 as a coalition of volunteer community members dedicated to exploring ways to leverage the talent and resources of the community for the betterment of education. The goal of Heartland is to shift the focus from school to education and shift the responsibility from school to community.
Published: September 8, 2011
