ladies and gentlemen welcome to the fall two thousand and thirteen character counts award ceremony my name is brian schill and i am the executive director for the peters township chamber of commerce character counts we're celebrating our fifteenth year this year it's the grassroots award winning initiative between the school district the municipality and the community working together to promote respect responsibility and on a city throughout the township this is the first recognition awards program under the new logo that was designed by cindy sheehan cindy had one of one hundred eighty entries that were submitted to the district last spring and if you look behind me you'll see the new logo so we're pretty excited about that as well assisting me for the seedings presentations is the lovely and talented mr greg old is is is our chamber of treasure he is also the first ever carol fully memorial award winner for character counts that we gave around in spring last year and he's also the owner of miller's ace hardware so i want to thank greg for helping me tonight here's  although he makes me look like i'm five foot four thanks and here's how i would do this it's this will take less than an hour what will do is will recognize the recipients and you can see them in order in your program call the recipient when your name is called please come forward also call the person who nominated you and if that person is here they would come forward as well well then read the nomination and and then we'll present you with the certificate  and we have a couple photographers this evening we have tom and mina who will help us and we'll get a picture of you and then once that's done if you'd like to say a few words you're more than welcome and if not no problem so we have fourteen short presentation so let's get started  and this is what p v had to say this is bet cunningham exhibits a commitment to the ideals of respect responsibility and on a city through her volunteer work at pleasant valley elementary school as an active member of the pleasant valley p mrs cunningham coordinates the p t a playground program playground palace's a program designed to foster cooperative and inclusive interactions between students during outdoor recess the goals of playground pals are to encourage students to join in games and play cooperatively with children they haven't played with before to promote team building and decrease bullying and exclusion during recess mrs cunningham recruits and coordinates coordinates a qadri of p t a volunteers who organize and facilitate the playground pal's recess activities she organized the computer link to facilitate inefficient sign up process and develop a list of games that promote cooperative and active play the playground pals program is a great way to keep children moving while meeting new friends and have a fun during recess pleasant valley staff and students would like to thank this is cunning for her dedication to the well being of our students thank you very much family writes i have known meghan mcgee for three years since she was eleven years old now we know how she is eighteen she volunteered for the youth services department at the carnegie library of homestead under my supervision during her time at the library she volunteered for fifty six hours meghan helped shelve books set up for story times clean up after art projects cleaned the art supply area and played board games with the children who came to the library during the summer the library is a safe haven for the children of this disadvantaged area and many of them look forward to spending time with meghan meghan also volunteered at the community fair attended by two hundred people during this event she helped set up tables and chairs gather materials for the crafts and games and helped clean up i worked with many youth volunteers during my eight years at the library and meghan was the most helpful she would complete tasks to the best of her ability and without complaint at the library she was exposed to new situations and cultural differences when confronted with something out of her comfort zone she did not judge she simply asked me in a polite way later about the differences she saw i feel that having a character is the ability to have an open our next recipient is ms louise and she was nominated by sandy mcwilliams on behalf of the is an exceptional graphic artist who assists everyone pleasant valley by designing activities to support learning her designs are seen throughout the building on every occasion the children enjoy seeing the rockets soar as they learn their math facts or read for the principal reading challenge she has helped with the finer details of all of our celebrations which include the blue ribbon and staff halloween costumes louise exemplifies responsibility and dedication she spent countless days this past summer creating our display for our word of the week project everything is visually beautiful and exact louise completes these designs and artwork on her own time as she is very busy supporting staff and students throughout the day louise is just one of the special staff members at p v that we are proud to nominate for this award is louise right from the words of dr hardy i have known both of these young men for a number of years it has been my pleasure to coach them in wrestling these last two years there is no doubt in my mind that these two young men exemplify the qualities of respect responsibility and honesty at the highest levels i witnessed many situations where these young men have gone out of their way to serve and assist others in need and respect their situation at the same time this was very evident in may when both of these young men  company me to south africa where we assisted one of our partner high schools by renovating three of their classrooms i saw the qualities of respect responsibility and honesty at play each day as they joyfully arose and went to work helping fellow students whom they had just recently met their examples of character were inspiring and made me very proud that these young men represent peters township they both have my full and complete the doors meant for this award next we have gloria locks nominated by christian lesson and assistant principal at peters township high school from from christian i have nominated gloria for this award for the devotion she has exhibited to the students of peters township high school she takes her role very seriously as a mentor to her students she says students through many trials and gives much of her personal time to ensure their needs are met she cares deeply for her students and goes to great lengths to see that they're successful and fiercely advocates for their best interests she is highly attentive to the needs of the students and their families she is a clear candidate for an award for character and respect have nominated gale for this award because of the great service and care that she provides to students and families of peters township high school she carries the greatest student load of any school school nurse in the district she was pivotal in developing the district concussion protocols and is quick to volunteer her time she is a true professional who shows up to a difficult job with grace effort and a heart for people much of what she does goes unnoticed however the impact she has had on the student body and faculty of peters township high school is far reaching she is a clear candidate for an award for responsibility and character well we're halfway through already tell you what this is war and lean mean good running machine although is dr afraid oh where are you dr frieda i have a question we're going to take a one minute time out these or not till after the ceremony so see you know how it went so if you just hang around afterwards he'll sign him bob has already signed him so you know it's all about checks and balances ok our next recipient is cecilia allison and she was nominated by colleen to tilly who is unable to be with us this evening acknowledgment sicilia is currently a high school senior with an exemplary academic record despite her academic and personal achievements she maintains a humble and open personal demeanor sicilia has donated many hours to making peters township a better place to live and learn last summer cecilia completed her girl scout gold award project by building an outdoor classroom at bower hill out of my treat she introduced this garden to students in the school district through a series of educational meetings in the bauer hill garden i had the opportunity to attend one of these sessions and watch her interactions with the children cecilia was an excellent teacher and it was clear that the children she was working with enjoyed the session and looked up to her they went away with a better understanding of healthy eating and the benefits of local sustainable farming sicilia is service oriented and frequently volunteers at our parish st benedict the avid where she donates time to the church fish fry teaching religious education classes and other service projects that have benefited the women of st ben's organization she has volunteered her time to the easter seals adult day care where she works with alzheimer's patients coordinating social events such as a spa day and a carnival she also works with the patients playing games that stimulate memory to in slowing the progression of the disease for the past two years cecilia has organized blood drives at the high school in cooperation with the central blood bank her efforts yielded one hundred fifty units of blood and just one dr and she involved over fifty people within our community in these efforts outside of the community society has represented peter's township internationally with her charitable works during a month long service trip to peru during her trip she worked on three primary projects including the construction of a preschool working to improve the water supply through canal improvements and installing clay ovens in h in impoverished communities i have known to celia for a number of years and can attest to her strong worth back and care for her community composer and resident of peter's township is receiving this character counts recognition award purse contributions to newtown connecticut school district and community on december eighteenth two thousand and twelve newtown connecticut was hit with an unimaginable tragedy twenty first grade children and six women at sandy hook elementary school died in a mass school shooting four days after the incident new towns director of bands called sa asked if he would craft the memorial music for those who were lost and a community in need of healing the incident cook hit close to home with the haze of family dawn hayes sam's wife is a friend of a woman whose son was in first grade classroom at the school and narrowly escaped the shooting six years earlier sam composed a piece to honor those lost at another campus tragedy at virginia tech well honored to be asked to compose music for such a cause an occasion he also had an idea of the hard work ahead and the emotional journey that he was about to overtake it took c m four months to create a memorial and although offered a salary to write it he refused to accept any money he was asked to write something that every music student in newtown could perform meaning he had to compose for choir band orchestra together most challenging however if he needed to write a composition that would honor those lost and help a community to heal this past spring only months after the incident c m and his the memorial and performance met a lot to those in attendance in the words of michael wagner the older brother of one of the young victims and a saxophonist in the band i feel the way to my brother's loss constantly an unexplainable array of emotions the stark reality brings to my daily life having the opportunity to play mr hazel's piece with other members of the music program has been deeply healing and touching  deal of thanks the lyrics to the composition translated into english reads may flights of angels sing the to the rest in the healing voice of god the melodies your mother saying well loving you so you know you are home the significance of c m hazels contribution is eloquently summed up in his own words what he said in introducing the piece there is a fate worse than death and there is a love larger than life the irony is that sometimes they exist right next to each other and music helps us to express that love which is why i am honored to have been contacted to compose this piece right our next recipient is rachel couleur nominated by judy alexander she's all right from judy as an active member of the interact club rachel has assumed many responsibilities and participated in more than one hundred hours of service over the last three years last spring rachel and other members of the interact club provided a wonderful home cooked valentine's day dinner and dessert for local homeless veterans living in transition housing rachel mothers encouraged our elementary students to make special valentine's day cards for the veterans in addition to eliciting support from elementary students rachel also reached out to parents to assist with making food and assisting with kitchen supervision unfortunately some veterans return to the states with  post traumatic stress disorder drug and alcohol addition addiction and mental illness often times these disorders prevent them from returning as productive members of society while serving dinner rachel learned of the shelters efforts to assist veterans with the task of reentering the workforce she decided to create a dress for success clothing drive to provide the men with much needed professional attire to wear job interviews and on the job she made a plea to the mcmurry rotary and peters township residents to donate professional clothing shoes coats accessories for men and received an overwhelming response at the homeless shelter rachel started talking about the numerous peters township alumni who served in the armed forces she created the idea of having a place of honor to commemorate peters township alumni serving first she asked the interval interact club for money to pay for supplies and started the conversation with mrs pavlik after a few meetings with mrs pavlik she began meeting with local recruiters and contacting servicemen and women who she whom she knew personally next she contacted mrs belcher f getting information out to the community about the wall and asking for names and pictures of peters township servicemen and women who had served post nine eleven she also contacted mr goal from building and grounds to get the high school wall covered so that she and ken a coon could cut could paint a copy of the american flag on the wall and finally as pictures started to come in chief framed them and had name tags engraved with the soldier's name and year of high school graduation rachel met with building custodians to assist with the logistics thus far the peters township wall of honor currently holds twenty two pictures of peters township alumni who have or currently serving post nine eleven rachel has clocked countless hours of her time into this project and is currently reflecting on expanding the project within a community her goal is to continue to highlight the selfless sacrifice made by the men and women of peter's township rachel  exemplifies respect responsibility and on a city in all that she endeavors she has reach beyond her comfort zone to create a meaningful project that will forever commemorate the young men and women our community who are the ultimate  just a quick note if you haven't seen this yet take a look at it so when you walk into the high school main office area it's on the right hand side and being a retired military pilot myself i thought it was very nice and very well done and i would like to say thanks for  activities in and outside of school i have had the pleasure of working with her for approximately four years although her demure is quiet and observant casey has emerged as a leader over the last four years of her high school experience casey has been an active member of the peters township high school interact club for the four years and the corresponding secretary for the last two years as an active member of the club casey has dedicated more than one hundred hours of her time to providing services to the community and families less fortunate than herself three years ago casey started the autism awareness and walk campaign initially she provided each of the peters township buildings with a lighted up blue window sticker and blue candles and requested that each building light it up blue to support national autism awareness month in addition to sending each building materials she began organizing small groups of interested students into working committees to create a walk for autism each group had specific tasks to complete committees included advertising t shirt solicitation baked goods chinese auction baskets and the thank you committee to name a few throughout the month of april students would donate their lunch time to selling autism related goods proceeds from all goods sold are also donated to the walk her annual walk for autism has raised almost ten thousand dollars for autism speaks and last year three of the district buildings last year casey decided that a portion of the proceeds from the autism walk would remain in the district and be used to support various school specific initiatives this year casey has been charged with the task of grooming an under classman to assume her role as coordinator of autism awareness and walk in judy's words it will truly take a remarkable person to fill her shoes case exemplifies respect responsibility and honesty and all that she endeavors she has created a project that has taken a life of its own and will continue to thrive in our community long after she has graduated  coon and steve low are involved in many activities in and outside of school i have had the pleasure of working with them for approximately four years ken and steve are naturally leaders and have demonstrated an affinity for leadership and civic engagement through a number of projects canada has been an active member of the peters township high school interact club for the four years and is currently the vice president while steve is serving as the recording secretary as active members of the club can and steve  dedicated more than one hundred hours of their time to providing services to the community and families less fortunate than themselves three years ago and steve spearheaded a project between the interact club and community action southwest and steve began meeting with representatives from community action to learn about their getting ahead in a get by world program getting ahead is a sixteen week program developed to teach impoverished washington county residents how to get out of poverty for the last three years ken and steve organized groups of interact club students to attend an evening program twice per month each month ken and steve take a thoughtful group of interact club students to washington p a students purchasing greedy ends cook and provide a nutritious dinner for sixteen to twenty adults and there are twenty to thirty children who attend classes each week after serving dinner the adults attend a two hour class while the peters township interact club students work with their children ken and steve organize the food games and reading materials for approximately twenty to thirty children every two weeks in addition to the by monthly activities can and steve also work with community action to ensure that washington county children have a nice christmas holiday for the last three years they have organized interact club students to purchase christmas gifts for needy children once they receive the gender ages and wish list they organize lists and match the children with peters township students who purchased the gifts last year they partnered with the rotary and included peters township families who are also in need in addition to the christmas gifts students use club money to purchase the entire christmas dinner for six families students partner with the peters township life skills students to help with the terminating the christmas dinner menu as well as the cost for each dinner life skill students use this opportunity to apply a broad range of their math reading and higher order thinking skills in a real world context in past years the life skills class also shop for the grocery items thus providing them with another opportunity to apply some of the skills learned in the classroom can and steve exemplify respect responsibility and honesty in all that they endeavor they have reached beyond the peters township borders and have created projects to continue to touch the lives of so many children in need  i got to be careful because you know their jokes are coming next the nominee is ms madison fritz and she was nominated by denise abr denise writes over the past several months there have been many people who have reached out to support my son in law and daughter sargent dog and alexis the tally this past may and eighth grade student demonstrated support far beyond what a typical thirteen or fourteen year old would do madison fritz arrived home to find her mother reading an article about drugs injuries and his plans to have a home built in peter's township madison started her own campaign to raise funds and on memorial day presided over four thousand dollars to the v f w for the fund my nomination of madison is not just about fund raising when i spoke with her she was passionate and articulate about her feelings regarding drug sacrifice and how much it means to our country she demonstrated her respect for her country for dog and the sacrifices made by our military through her words and her actions i applaud madison and the entire fritz family for the support provided to dog and to our family she exemplifies the respect and responsibility that makes the peters township community proud pattison fri and active military thank  you i'm just going to take a minute to thank not just madison this whole community has been incredible and went to lexus and come home which will be home in three weeks living in my house temporarily then with dogs family temporarily until their home is ready this spring but when they get home they'll be an official thank you and celebration and they're finally home but i'll tell you there's just been so many people in so many families and so many  groups have touched our family i'm just so proud to be a part of this community this young lady that memorial day and several of the young people here we're doing a pretty good job raising these kids to recognize what's important and i think sometimes we lose sight of that so madison thank you and peter's township thank you and thank you for doing this is awesome congratulations again to all of our recipients let's give them all around just a couple last notes ten members of the peters hardship school district faculty administration will be traveling to washington d c at the end of this week for a character education partnership twentieth annual form on character education no two left behind that's nick murphy's band of brothers that's a band it's made of mcmurry teachers in case you're not aware of the very good band by the way they will be performing as a featured event there as well and o will be leading a session at the conference supported by other peters township school district educators highlighting the peters township character counts initiative and what we've done and what you've done in the community so it's a pretty big deal and we wish them the best as they travel down there i'd like to make a couple last thank yous again thank you to the lovely tall and talented greg gold to my two impromptu photographers tom and mean and i really appreciate that and most importantly to each and every want to do for taking time out of the evening to come here this evening to share these awards and also to consider moving out into the community and being a part of the character counts initiative by your own words and deeds and by also recognizing those that you see doing so as well so we always wanted to  you know see use out their example find the character counts core values of respect responsibility and honesty so at this point i was just kidding about the mike so vestry thing it wasn't because he was really waiting for you guys but he will sign those  an after thought on my part i didn't check out all the certificates of all kit will take care of that as soon as it's over with and that concludes the seedings events we do have some cookies and drinks for some refreshments so please join in and thank you for coming