National Character Counts Week - Inspector Iwannano School Assembly

Next week is an important week and I bet you don’t even know it! Next week, October 16-22, is national Character Counts week. Every year, the third week in October is designated as a special week to honor and promote Character Counts. Last year, 8 million kids in 54 different nations participated in this event.

Unsure what that means? Character Counts is a national initiative designed to promote good character development in students of all ages.

Character Counts revolves around the idea that there are Six Pillars of Character. These are Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. Every one understands the need for promoting good character among our future citizens, and this great initiative does so in a beautiful way.

Of course, here at Mobile Ed we don’t need a specific week to promote good character. With three different tours of Inspector Iwannano, our own Character Counts school assembly program, plus two different anti bullying programs - Stronger Than a Bully and Shine Through - Mobile Ed has been working diligently for years to bring these issues to the attention of kids across the country in a form that is fun, easy understood and not at all “preachy”. Still we celebrate next week along with the rest of the world as a major step forward in improving the minds of the adults of tomorrow. Who knows? Had there been an Inspector Iwannano to visit the elementary school attended by Bernie Madoff or some of the clowns involved in the Wall Street meltdown in 2008, things might have turned out a whole lot better for everyone! Not to mention Washington...

Still, if you have not made plans to promote Character Counts next week it is not too late to get involved. It may no longer be possible to schedule an event, like a visit from Inspector Iwannano, but certainly in school or even in-room activities can still be created to mark the occasion. And then, a visit from the Inspector later in the year would work perfectly to remind the kids of what was started this next week. After all, good character isn’t something to practice for just one week, but throughout the year. Someone once remarked “Good character is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching”. I think that sums it up pretty well myself, and this needs to be reinforced throughout the school year. Many schools have programs in place to do just this, promote the Six Pillars on a daily basis all year. If your school has not done so, this next week might just be a good time to start!

Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN.