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Dear Jennifer,
Every year, the MindOH! team is touched by the essays and survey
answers we read from the kids across the nation who participate in
our annual Character's Cool Contest ... and 2005 is no exception.
This year's theme about bullying sparked some emotional and personal
stories by the kids. One common feeling shared by all of the winners
and honorable mentions was a desire to stop bullying - a promise to
learn from past incidents and to make responsible and respectful
choices in the future.
We are still in the process of contacting a couple of the
winners, but I encourage you to read some of the essay winners and
honorable mentions.
- 1st Place High School Essay, $500 cash prize: "Do,
Re...ME!" by Katelyn Sheehan, 15, Glastonbury High School,
Glastonbury, CT
- 3rd Place High School Essay, $175 cash prize: "Proclaiming
Faith" by Elyse Pizzo, 15, Glastonbury High School,
Glastonbury, CT
- 2nd Place Middle School Essay, $250 cash prize: "Dear
Diary" by Brittany Folsom, 13, Forney Middle School, Forney,
TX
- 3rd Place Middle School Essay, $175 cash prize: "Emotional
Build-up" by Samantha Soto, 13, Belleville Middle School,
Belleville, NJ
- High
School Honorable Mentions
- Middle
School Honorable Mentions
Thank you to all of the
schools and students who helped make this year's contest a success!
Sincerely,
Jennifer O'Brien
MindOH! Marketing Director and Contest
Coordinator
| Announcing the 2005 Character's Cool Contest
Results! |
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The MindOH! Foundation's fourth annual Character's Cool
Contest was a huge success, with 5,502 student survey entries
and 1,134 essay entries from 240 schools in 40 states. The
total estimated value of prizes was more than $12,200, and
included items ranging from a Nintendo Game Club to gift
certificates to Old Navy. With 388 total student entries,
D.A. Smith Middle School in Ozark, Alabama won the
grand prize: a new computer and a one-year license to
MindOH's Discipline and Life Skills Series. With 321
total entries, East Hanover Middle School in East Hanover,
New Jersey won the second-place prize: Project Wisdom's
Character Education Series.
The Character's Cool Contest is an annual program developed
by the MindOH! Foundation to further character education and
empower youth to practice ethical behavior. All secondary
school students (ages 11-18) in the United States and Canada
are eligible to enter.
Open from January 1 to February 11, 2005, this year's
contest theme was bullying. One definition of bullying is
"hurting or teasing others on purpose to try to overpower
them." Thirty percent of students in grades six through 10 in
U.S. public and private schools report moderate or frequent
involvement in bullying either as a bully themselves, a victim
or both. This year's contest strived to help kids understand
the thoughts and emotions that go along with this cruel
phenomenon, and realize how bullies are not always the people
you expect.
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| Building a Foundation for Success: Teaching Children
Today the Parenting Skills They Will Need in the
Future |
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By Guest Author Janet Pozmantier, Director of the
Parents Under Construction Program at ChildBuilders
It is no secret that law schools, medical schools, MBA
programs, universities, and colleges of every sort are
becoming increasingly more competitive in both their
admissions and their academics. Internships are in similarly
high demand, as it seems many students are striving to get
"hands on" experience before entering the unknown of the "real
world." But even the finest Ivy League education will leave
the majority of today's students frighteningly unprepared for
the most enduring, influential, and significant profession
they will ever have -- parenting.
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| Culture Corner: Spring in South East Asia |
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By Amy Dow, MindOH! Content Writer
Yay! Spring is just around the corner.
It is a gorgeous day outside in Huntsville, Ontario,
Canada. The sun is shining and the snow is FINALLY beginning
to melt away.
As the spring season approaches many people welcome the
season around the world. April 5th is both a traditional
Chinese festival and a national holiday in Taiwan. April 5th
is known as Tomb Sweeping Day. During this time family's
travel to loved ones burials to sweep off the derby and dirt
and place fresh flowers on their graves.
Taiwan is also home to another great spring festival that
is dedicated to Matsu, Goddess of the Sea and Guardian of the
islands fisherman. This celebration takes place in over 200
temples in Taiwan where Matsu is enshrined. One of the biggest
festivals takes place in one of Taiwan's most extravagant
temples, The Matsu Temple in Peikang.
During this festival there are offerings of roast pig and
boiled chickens. The local people participate in lion and
dragon dancing and other colorful parades. Open air markets
pack the narrow streets around the temple selling everything
imaginable.
The spring is a special time for everyone, no mater what
country you are a part of. Enjoy the new season, because I
know I will.
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Character Education Expert Column: What's At
Stake |
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By Guest Author Dr. Marvin Berkowitz, University of
Missouri-St. Louis
For four years, I have been filling this space weekly with
variations on the theme of urging you to raise children of
character in your homes, communities and schools. For over a
quarter of a century, I have been studying children's moral
and character development and working with schools,
communities, and families to foster such development.
Why is this so important? You may think that I am a broken
record stuck in my own groove, and becoming annoying by making
a mountain out of a molehill. Every now and then, as I look at
hunger and war around the world, I wonder whether I should
pick up a different banner. After all, those are real issues
with import for everyone. Matters of life and death. Global
issues.
But my doubts are only rare and momentary, as I keep coming
back to the same refrain. It is people who do good and people
who do bad. Wars don't start by themselves. Hatred is not a
natural force. Cruelty is not perpetrated by plants or
minerals. People do these things and they do them in large
part because of their characters.
If we want to live in a moral world, we need to raise moral
children. Read the Entire Article
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