CHARACTER COUNTS! Community Awareness Conference Postponed

The Sept. 12 CHARACTER COUNTS! Community Awareness Conference in Lubbock has been
postponed due to the act of terrorism on the United States. We hope to reschedule this event soon.
The new schedule & information will be posted here as  soon as possible. In the meantime, you can
read the original story below and get an idea of what this event will entail and cover.

Writers: Tim W. McAlavy, (806) 746-6101; email t-mcalavy@tamu.edu
Contact: Colleen Chadwick, (806) 746-6101; Nat Cooper, (806) 796-8800

LUBBOCK – Parents, educators, education administrators, childcare providers, health and human service workers, and others who interact daily with children should plan to attend the fall CHARACTER COUNTS! Community Awareness Conference here.

The one-day conference will begin with registration at 8 a.m. and conclude around 5 p.m. There is no registration fee.

The conference is designed to educate those who interact daily with children on the sound principles of character education through the CHARACTER COUNTS! framework. This event is jointly sponsored by Texas A&M University, Texas Cooperative Extension, Texas Tech University, the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition, the Josephson Institute, Lubbock Christian University, as well as the Anton, Frenship, Lubbock and Slaton Independent School Districts.

“The CHARACTER COUNTS! framework was developed by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, and has been widely adopted by a coalition of the nation’s foremost youth, education and service organizations,” said Colleen Chadwick, Texas Cooperative Extension South Plains District Director for Family and Consumer Sciences. “Texas Extension faculty have used this framework for several years as part of our Texans Building Character youth program.

“The curriculum teaches children the importance of practicing the six pillars of character – trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship – in their daily lives.”

The conference will provide participants with a framework to further develop character-building teaching materials, and tips on how to utilize these materials effectively.

Dr. Nat Cooper, director and founder of Lubbock Christian University’s Center for Character Development, will serve as conference moderator.

 Michael Josephson, founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics, will give thekeynote address. Josephson founded the non-profit institute in 1985, on the heels of a successful career in law, education and ethics consulting. The CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition sprang from a 1992 ethics conference, where participants identified basic non-political, non-sectarian ingredients of good character. Today, the coalition includes more than 350 nationwide education and youth organizations which use the curriculum as a voluntary framework for citizen action in youth education.

Morning workshops will feature presentations on: “Character Education in Families,” and “Character Education in Sports.”

Afternoon workshops will focus on character education in business, education and the community.

Josephson will also moderate a community action panel on character education, with key community leaders from the Texas South Plains.

Texans can get more information on this educational event by calling Chadwick at (806) 746-6101,
Nat Cooper at (806) 796-8800, or David Vinson at dvinson@frenship.k12.tx.us.

Texas Cooperative Extension is an outreach education agency of The Texas A&M University System, with offices and educators in all 254 Texas counties. Extension has an 85-year history of youth and adult education, designed to assist Texas residents in improving their lives and communities. Extension offers its Texans Building Character program in response to local needs, and through a special initiative for families and youth funded in part by the Texas Legislature.

CHARACTER COUNTS! is a service mark of the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition, a project of the non-profit Josephson Institute of Ethics.