TOPEKA—Hoisington High School was recognized as one of ten Kansas schools and one school district receiving the Promising Practice in Character Education Awards last week.
 They were recognized through a variety of programs sponsored by the Character Education Partnership, a national organization promoting character education.
Hoisington High School Principal Meg Wilson explained the process the school went through to choose the core values. “Following our 2011 fall inservice, our staff was on board with establishing core values within our school culture,” said Wilson. “Our student advisor, Ms. Brack, organized a time to go into each classroom throughout the second week of school to discuss and make lists of the strengths and weaknesses of our school.  
“Ms. Brack then led a discussion on what core values they thought were most significant that would define how they would like the HHS culture to look and feel,” said Wilson. “The students selected respect, responsibility, grit, positive attitude, and honesty.”
 “Another suggestion by the students was to update our entry way into our high school to give it a more current and proud look,” she said.  “Some of the students suggested replacing our tired latch rug cardinal with a ceramic version of a bold cardinal.  The art classes developed ideas to design the entry way.  In addition to updating the cardinal, the art classes have partnered with our in-house  training to design the letters that will be traced onto the wall above the new cardinal to display the 5 core values.  The students’ goal is to have the core values painted by spring break and to have the cardinal ready to display shortly after.
“Giving the students the opportunity to express their feelings by listing the strengths and weaknesses of their school has been valuable,” said the principal. “The students were sincere in what they felt were real strengths as well as weaknesses of our rural school community.  This project has engaged many students in developing the vision for implementing the core values.”
Schools and districts achieved recognition by demonstrating principles of character and through the successful implementation.
Among those recognized Thursday was the Hesston School District, as the 2012 District of Character. Iola High School, was recognized as the State School of Character, and Anthony Elementary School, Leavenworth, earned the Emerging School of Character recognition.
Ten Kansas schools and one Kansas school district were presented Promising Practice in Character Education Awards. They are Baldwin High School; Buhler High School;  Centre School District, Lost Springs; Circle High School, Towanda;  Clifton-Clyde High School, Clyde;  Hoisington High School, Hoisington; Iola High School; Kiowa County Junior High School, Greensburg; Marysville Junior/Senior High School; Morgan Elementary School, Hutchinson;  and Pittsburg High School.
Eighteen additional schools were recognized with an Evidence-Based Practice Award.
During the awards ceremony, Dr. Tom Foster, Kansas State Department of Education, praised the schools being honored and for recognizing the need for character development. In addition, Alex Muff, a junior middle blocker on the Kansas State University Volleyball Team and an Academic Big 12 honoree, shared the importance the core principles had played in her life.