good evening peters township welcome to our character council ward ceremony for the fall my name is jeff vander hoff and i'm a pastor at train of the united methodist church here in mcmurtrie my co host for the evening is brad sommer felts who is the director of junior high ministries at the bible chapel and we are here tonight to kind of emcee and keep things running smoothly as we begin i want to talk just briefly about what character counts is all about and why we do what we  do in order to do that i'd like you to indulge me in watching a visual illustration the principle of which was reportedly first discovered by aristotle long time ago and which has been worked into an optical illusion by a magician and i will share that with you this little black and yellow disk is something that reveals and teaches an incredibly important principle and i  hope that you'll watch closely for a moment as i do this illustration for young going to spin it and what i want you to do while i spin it is focus your attention right on the center of the wheel as you focus your attention there don't look away trying not to blink and just focus right here after about thirty seconds a legion a countdown ten nine eight count with me or i'll look like an idiot count with me when we get to one i'm going to lower its and have you stare at my nose and i promise you if you look here for thirty seconds and at my nose you will see my head blow up like a balloon is really it's an optical illusion watch carefully go thirty seconds is all it takes watch carefully as the wheel spins around and around in the center keep watching don't look away trying not to blink if you have to blink that's ok just make sure that when you open your eyes you're once again staring at the center of the we'll keep watching just a few more seconds will count down together from ten when we get to one i will lower the wheel have you stare at my nose and you will see my head blow up like a balloon focus your attention ten more seconds count with me now starting at the number ten nine eight seven six five four three two one stare at my nose is blow up it's a neat it is a really neat optical illusion that takes place they say that aristotle did not use it for a parlor trick but rather that he was one day deep in thought near a waterfall and he was just kind of staring off at the waterfall and it was moving and he wasn't focused on that but just kind of watching it in this blank stare and when he did focus again he looked at his hands and he saw his hand moving although it wasn't and he reportedly discovered the principle but i share it with you tonight because it teaches us another principle it's what i call the principle of focus and here it is what we choose to focus on changes the way we see things really done thirty seconds of you choosing to focus on that we'll change the way you saw in my head even though my head didn't change your perception of it did because when we choose to focus we change the way we see things and what we believe as character counts as an organization is that when we can change the way that we see things we might also be able to change the way that others see things and if we can change the way that others see things we might just change the world one life at a time and that is our focus tonight is to focus our attention as a community on several individuals who have been nominated because they have character that has been demonstrated and shown and recognized by others and so we're here tonight to share the twentieth year of our awards for character counts and our nominees begin with michelle fagan and angela eloise and as we say your names would you please work your way over here and walk up on the stage while we read the nice things that people said about you these folks were nominated by stephanie michelle and angela exemplify kindness to the full extent of the word they consistently volunteer at pleasant valley to help with any school event both michelle and angela show their appreciation to staff throughout the year by providing lunches and other tokens of appreciation they are always smiling friendly and willing to help in any way they can and often go out of their way to do so both ladies show how much they value and appreciate education and also character development michelle and angela deserve to know how much their character truly counts our second nominee for tonight is kimberly dissolve and she was nominated by blair story this is what blair had to say about kimberly kimberly a fifth grade teacher at mcmurray elementary is known to be a kind and compassionate person on a day in september she noticed that one of her students was choking on a snack in her class she quickly took action by performing the heimlich maneuver on her student to dislodge the food that was blocking his airway because of her quick action she assisted a student in need that may have required much more invasive medical assistance had she not exhibited her care and responsibility for her students wellbeing our next nominee is chip groff bus driver nominated by johnny miller and trac mr miller nominated chip with the following words mr bruff drives my daughter's bus one morning she was crossing the street to board the bus and a car speeding on mcmurry road was about to hit her the driver showed no signs of stopping for the bus thank god mr groff was alert he laid on the horn and the driver slammed on the brakes and narrowly avoided what would have undoubtedly been a tragedy we're deeply grateful for mr grosse active service and cementing this nomination is an honor and the least that we could do mrs but ollie who oversees the transportation department added these comments in her own nomination luckily chip was focused on wind and laid on the horn and yelled for her to run the car just missed her immediately her mom called me clearly shaking to fill me in on what a great driver we had thursday morning the family gave chip a note to express their gratitude i wanted to share this story as he is one of the many caring drivers we have here at peters township that take care of our students daily while out struggling with the traffic construction and daily commuters our fourth nominee for tonight is jocelyn lynch and she was nominated by christian lesson in this is what christian had to say about her joslin first came to peters township character counts last year with a heart for helping students who are facing polling isolation at her first p t c c meeting she asked the group if we were currently championing any anti bullying initiatives to help when the first school district decided to sign up with rac challenge they came to the p t c see to assist in hosting a community wide event to support the initiative joslin jumped on this opportunity and took the lead on the coordinating meetings setting agendas creating fund strategies and delegating supporting roles to many of our volunteers do in part to her efforts our community was able to experience a wonderful event and fully embrace rachel's challenge we are grateful for her character our next nominee is shelley belcher nominated by michelle fagan she says being able to work with shelley on various projects has given our family insight into how much she does for our community she is honest in meeting with parents at p t a meetings responsible in running communications for the entire township and honest in how she responds and believes in what is best for our students parents and staff our next nominee is caroline elizabeth watson they were nominated by jeannie walk in the heidi colombo this is what they had to say about caroline and elizabeth caroline and elizabeth have been coming to our second grade inclusion classroom for three and a half years to volunteer they come to pleasant valley two or three times a week after their high school days finished up to help our students meet success and language arts and math weekly the girls help the students during our writing workshop time it is through their kindness and patience that the students get one on one attention as they war work on paragraph in writing skills we are especially impressed that these girls are able to help us even though they participate in many after school sports activities the next nominee is michelle shine of their french teacher nominated by shannon dello despite only working part time michelle shen of air has proven her character in the three short years she has been in the district as a graduate of peters township high school michelle chose to move back to the community and raise her family in the school district she loves not only does she demonstrate respect responsibility and honesty michelle teaches these invaluable traits to her students as a french teacher michelle strives to teach students respect for other cultures she singlehandedly organized a field trip for both middle school and high school students to have the true experience of a french restaurant working with the staff to ensure they only interact with the students in the target language during the meal this field trip also let students talk with the wait staff to learn about their experiences emigrating from france to the united states moreover michelle organized a summer trip for high school students to experience the francophone community of quebec city she emphasized the importance of the province's history and how it influenced the history of the united states as if that weren't enough michelle's next project involves inviting french students from bordeaux to peter's township as a cultural exchange in october twenty one thousand michelle teaches her students responsibility by creating service learning projects with midwives for haiti a public health charity in haiti she empowers them to be responsible for their impact on the world by letting the students choose what types of activities they could do to support the organization for their partnership she inspires students to take on leadership roles themselves in planning service activities and fundraisers because of michelle's service learning project the students are able to see from start to finish the kind of influence they can have on the world michelle teaches students honesty each and every day by demonstrating her own integrity this trust she shares with her students makes michelle a truly remarkable teacher director the parents students and staff of peter's township should be extremely grateful to have such a caring and creative person within this position mr swan chock has done an incredible job introducing new technologies to our school because of adam we have been able to provide our students with chromebook carts e v three robots humanoid robots virtual reality i pod touches vinyl cutter and he press and the list goes on and on his job is extremely overwhelming and he always completes tasks with a warm friendly smile on his face there are countless lessons activities events which take place at  which would be not possible without the behind the scenes action mr chalk he has is hardworking kind creative responsible and passionate he's a true asset to this district is john emery school resource officer nominated by adam sikorsky officer emory is the new school resource officer at the middle school while it is certainly comforting to know that an armed officer is presence within the building to provide law enforcement services it is office emery's approach to the role which certainly makes him deserving of a character counts award officer emery has already become an integral part of our school culture he greets students with a friendly smile each morning as they get off of their buses and has become a familiar face within the school officer emory eats lunch daily with students in the cafeteria an opportunity which allows him to get to know the students on a personal level and to develop positive relationships in fact students argue over who gets to sit with him at lunch each day officer emery is walking our helping to open lockers and a scoring last students to their desired locations he is highly visible within the school which is so critically important for his role as school resource officer he has the perfect balance of being a strong physical presence who also cares deeply for kids and goes out of his way to make their days positive and successful our next nominee is rich flick he was nominated by shelley belcher this is what she had to say about rich rich has played a vital role in school safety through his position in the mains to parliament by helping us to make and distribute the lockdown devices for all classrooms in the district but his help always goes a step further he personally delivers each device and will train the staff on how to use them he also goes a step further to troubleshoot any issues and come up with creative solutions for safety when needed best of all he does it all with a smile and i'm grateful to have rich as a part of our team the next nominees are bob mary randy campbell denny city matt post matt valentino as the power hill custody team nominated by karen lingus indiana gallagher what do you think of when we say custody and that's the job where you spend the entire shift cleaning up after other people and sometimes some not so nice things have you ever met bob matt matt randy and danny the custody team in power hill you may of course see them sweeping the floor or cleaning up a mass in the hall lunchroom or classroom but what they do goes way beyond what you may assume or expect did you know they are often greeting our kids with a gentle smile and a friendly hello well also paying attention to see everything and everyone that walks through those front doors during arrival and dismissal safety and security in our building is a big priority for them do you ever wonder if your child is eating in the cafeteria alone well when the custody ins are in the cafeteria doing their more typical job duties they are also engaging with our children who may need a friend or may be having a bad day yes they are able to recognize this because they take the time to know our children to talk to our children and to care about our children have you seen them helping during p t a events the p t a would not be able to function without their help even though p t a events mean more mess for them to clean up not once did we feel as though we were an unwanted presence in fact just the opposite questions like what do you need what can i get for you need more tables for the book fair not a problem need to turn the cafeteria into the be stroh's set up in less than twenty minutes no worries they can always handle it and with a smile they are a huge part of the school and continually go above and beyond for the good of our students they are even willing to be placed in the dunk tank or be a conductor for the polar express train for the holidays above and beyond is just their normal always there and always willing to help no matter what is asked they consistently open doors for you when you are entering the building with your hands full of supplies for an event or when going through with your child on rainy days they are ready to help with umbrellas as you attempt to get to your car always supportive when you have a last minute change of plans and all hands need to be on deck to get something done another example of going the extra mile was bower hill day back in june this event is a huge production for the kids to enjoy the last days of school and due to a change in the weather prediction it was decided to switch from an indoor event this year an outdoor event first thing the morning of and the crew jumped right in and worked to make sure things were just right for the kids to enjoy one of their favorite days of the school year thank you for making power hill not just a great place for our kids but also a welcoming place to volunteer bob matt matt randy and danny not only excel at their job but take it a step further and have been promoting rachel scott's message of being kind and truly caring long before it was brought to p t s d so peters township we challenge you please take the time to thank the custody of staff and power hill this concludes tonight ceremony before i ask all of the nominees to come back up for one final picture i do want to say i don't have a magic trick or some type of cool thing  but i do want to tell a story to wrap this up it's a personal story when i was seventeen years old my and my parents moved away and i was i was in i just graduated high school and i was trying to figure out what i was going to do i decided that i was going to try to work and live in that town that my parents had moved away about twelve hours as i tried to work and figure out my life i was not succeeding in my job in and at one point i didn't have a job so i couldn't pay the bills i i couldn't pay my my car payment and i ended up sleeping in my car and there was this man that saw me down on my luck and he brought me into his house and i lived with him and his family for about three months but during that time all he did was help me with my resume help me figure out what i wanted to do and i honestly believe that one of the reasons why i ended getting my degree and i'm standing here before you is because of this man in the kindness that he showed me and so i want to encourage you by saying you don't know the significance of the actions you ha as you've heard tonight all of the amazing things that these normal people do has an impact on the community around us and as a part of character counts this is what we firmly believe that all of our actions can have a positive effect on this community so i'd like to encourage you to do something this week one act of kindness towards somebody that you see on a regular basis because you don't know what that could impact and with that i would like to ask the nominees to come back up for a picture and as they come up i would like to thank everybody for attending  tonight we thank you for the refreshments mary lou i believe if i said that right yes thank you mary lou for the refreshments and nominees you can come on up for the picture and we'll take that photo this time and after the picture like to  ask you invite you to enjoy some of those refreshments and hang around and talk for a little while