good evening and welcome everyone to the two thousand and fourteen fall character counts recognitions awards my name is julie forensic i am the assistant principal at power hill elementary and it is my honor to be here tonight and get to be one of your mcs for the vent but i was actually really glad that i was chosen because i think it's a wonderful way to recognize individuals who are doing great things in our schools and within our communities and that's something that that was a big appeal and draw for me to join this so the character counts committee is extremely excited to have another evening where we get to recognize students residents or organizations within the community who have demonstrated that commitment to the ideals of respect responsibility and honesty of character counts is an initiative that focuses on building character within our schools within our community and something interesting a quote that i saw recently from the character education partnership  said that to be an effective school to be effective in schools character education must involve every one school staff parents students and community members and be part of every day in our schools it must be integrated into the schools and into the curriculum and when this happens in schools and communities unite around developing character we will see amazing results so tonight to me is one of those opportunities that we get to see those amazing results and we have the opportunity to recognize  people within our community who are showing embodying that great character that we're hoping to draw out in our schools every day so as we move forward tonight adam and i have the honor of reading the nominations that were submitted for those who were nominated for the awards tonight so we will read those tonight as as if we were those people who wrote them so you'll get to hear the wonderful things that these individuals have done and displayed whether it's activities or what they have modeled in the community that's recognizing them for this award this evening so i have the privilege of starting off with the first award tonight so as we go through we're going to ask those individuals to come join us up on stage here so we can share that award with that so our first  award this evening goes to i'm going to bring two people up on stage john adams and grace urban who are third grade students our hill elementary so if john and grace will come up over here by mr sikorski on stage the summer community service for checklists which included collecting box pop tabs making a blanket for the humane society painting a bird house collecting box tops donating donating books picking up trash making cookies for meals on wheels donating pet food to the animal shelter writing thank you letters to the peters township fire department donating canned food to the food bank donating clothing and making cards for a local senior center so john  grace congratulations and thank you for your service and the next award tonight goes to to students to third grade students from bauer hill ryan horton and gemma walker if you could please come up to the stage ryan and gemma were also nominated by their second grade been collecting hearts of hope change around the building for over a year this change goes to the washington county washington's mission to help provide nutritious food safe shelter and a heart of hope to the homeless gemma has been collect also been collecting hearts of hope change around the building for over a year now this summer she organized containers and posters for the building to collect pop tabs for the ronald mcdonald house not only does she make containers for each class she also collects them teacher she is excellence congratulations and the next recognition award this evening goes to mrs de salvo taught my daughter sophie last year mrs de salvo works above and beyond her role as a fourth grade teacher at mary elementary in peter sound ship i have seen her dedication in action and her caring positive encouraging personality with everyone she comes in contact with her students include children who are suffering bereavement and children who who are coping with parents with cancer and siblings with disabilities and i could go on she has shone a light of hope and encouragement to these children their parents and all of their students she does everything in her power to enable every student to fulfill their potential not simply in academic matters but in the terms of the whole child their character all those competencies that they will see that will serve them well not just in their future careers but in being great human beings few people know few people will know too that she has also suffered the loss of a close family member i know i am one of those very many parents and students who feel truly blessed to have her as a teacher she takes a huge amount of personal time to discuss how students are progressing with their parents she acts with honesty integrity and respect and everything that she does she is an incredible role model for students and their families she has a keen athlete and eats healthy she brings this healthy healthy classroom every day often in very tangible ways in this most definitely has a positive influence on the students and their families and beyond it speaks volumes that i think that i think she would be too modest to even consider herself such an amazing person she is incredibly humble she doesn't need awards but she seriously deserves that she has helped so many people who love who love what she has done for their students and families with their high esteem and respect is beyond any award i hope that by nominating mrs de salvo that she will win an award because for anyone who doesn't know her they will hopefully ask questions about why and how it is that it is it is that she is so good at what she does we have a generation to generation of teachers and young people who need a road map great great role models they need to hear about amazing people like mrs de salvo to be inspired and to know that everything she does big or small positive or encouraging supportive thought for funny that that it all matters and has a profound influence on students their families friends and community she in riches the lives of every person that she comes in contact with and she radiates through families and friends i am just one of the many who have become a better person as a result of this extraordinary lady please recognize this incredible woman sincerely mrs knight  he just nominated bill schneider for the character counts award because of his willingness to give back not only to the to his own community but to the world outside of it for about ten years bill has coordinated a used bicycle program in peter's township bicycles are collected in an annual annually in april at the peters township public works department through bill's efforts along with the help of some fellow bicycling enthusiasm over one thousand bicycles have been collected reconditioned or repaired and then donated to local and international nonprofit organizations they in turn distribute them to less fortunate people for transportation or for recreation residents of the peters of peter's township who have donated bicycles to bill program have expressed their gratitude that someone is making this effort to recycle what otherwise may have been thrown away congratulations helpful and kind person that i know i have seen her help friends and neighbors at the drop of a hat when she hears of someone in need she has always been the first to lend a hand she has help families that are battling cancer with a meal or a note of encourageme when her two boys were attending peter's challenge of schools she was always a home school project guide driver for teens all over the pittsburgh area all this while holding holding down a full time job and taking care of her two parents that are not in good health now that her youngest is off to college and her oldest is employed up north she continues to support the school children attending sports and theatrical performances she is always the first to ask how you are doing if you need anything and are you ok she goes through life with a smile and treats others with the utmost respect always she is active in the local catholic church and works within the township she is where she has raised two wonderful boys she is a wonderful mother wife daughter and friend it is an honor to nominate such a wonderful person congratulations and our next nomination award tonight goes to mrs rebecca riveredge who was rebecca was nominated by alexandria rose wilson and i'm going to reveal whether the alexandria wrote i have no mrs regrets since i was in fourth grade i am now in fifth grade mrs river  is one of the best teachers that i've ever had i was lucky because i had her fourth grade math and now she and i work together so i can stay ahead and math i love math and she has instilled in me an even greater love for it she taught me she supported me she encouraged me she challenged me she loved me and continues to do so and she became my friend she shows me how much she cares for students on a daily basis she encourages us she tells us you can do it even if we don't think we can she makes us feel important she listens to us she always makes her lessons interesting she uses humor a lot and will bend over backwards to me to ensure that we understand the concepts because of her i excel in math and i hope to continue to do so mrs river itch has a lot of energy she has always share full and she has made an environment in our school where we want to learn she has encouraged me and other students really to be the best that we can she has taught us to be respectful of others to help others to be responsible and to always be honest she always goes above and beyond for all of us and i think she is well deserving of this award and seal it sincerely alexandria wilson joanne was nominated tonight by gloria also nominated by gloria locks gloria writes that joanne has been a teacher for the past twenty two years she has inspired her students to truly think outside of the box be creative foster a good work ethic and instill values through her dedicate dedicated years of teaching she has a heightened sense of awareness for those students who need some extra effort and tirelessly works with those students to work towards proficiency she has a great sense of humor a warm personality a deep interest in worldly issues and a tenderness of the heart joanne is an extremely talented teacher who has had a positive influence on the p t a just community join me in congratulat and that brings a conclusion to the awards part of our ceremony tonight before we close everything out though i wanted to take a moment and ask those of you who nominated someone to please stand up for those of you who nominated someone thank you for taking the time to complete the award to turn it in and to give that public recognition to the individuals the outstanding individuals that we met here tonight we also wants to make sure that we sincerely thank the members of our character counts committee the community members the p t a members the school board members teachers support staff and administrators and counselors for your continued participation in the character counts monthly meetings and the support of this amazing initiative that we have in our school district in our township so join me and please thanking them for their contribution tom who thought he could hide in the corner and just take pictures tonight tom is the man behind the scenes when we develop go through reading the recognition awards collecting everything getting the information out there making sure that  i have everything that we need to read the awards tonight and preparing the award so tom thank you for all of your effort go above and beyond for others what a difference we all can make and i just like to put a challenge out there that we all leave here tonight with that challenge that individuals come up on stage