Tus Valores Cuentan Master Trainers, with Josephson Institute founder and president Michael Josephson.
On May 17th, the first Cumbre Tus Valores Cuentan (CHARACTER COUNTS! Summit) convened in Puerto Rico, where government agencies, police departments, sports organizations, and hundreds of schools have adopted CHARACTER COUNTS!.
At the Summit, Healthy Schools Program Director Nilka Vargas and Secretary of Education Dr. Jesús Rivera Sánchez presented many awards to elementary, middle, and high schools, including awards for best murals, best school initiative, best integration of Tus Valores Cuentan into the community, best teamwork demonstrated by school personnel, and exemplary commitment to implementation of the program.*
In her introduction for the “Most Exemplary Commitment by a Director” award, Nilka Vargas said,
These directors provided time and space for the initiative, integrated the Six Pillars of Character into all school procedures (such as in the taking of disciplinary action), allowed their Champions to meet consistently, provided guidance and workshops to parents and others close to the school community, and they were personally involved in all activities and joined others schools in their efforts.
Introducing the “Most Innovative Project” award, Governor Luis G. Fortuño explained,
Maintaining the interest and commitment of children and young people is key to the success of initiatives such as Tus Valores Cuentan. Awakening their natural curiosity is not an easy task, but when it happens the results are truly stunning, and they have a contagious effect on other children and both young and senior members of their communities. This recognition is particularly important for schools nominated, because each of these schools awoke the interest of their students in a project based on The Six Pillars of Character that was innovative, original, and replicable for future students. [Learn more about the stunning results of TVC.]
None of this success would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our partner in Puerto Rico, Camera Mundi International, which conducted the training of our Master Trainers, who then worked tirelessly to get TVC up and running. The master trainers trained the staff in the schools, participated in director trainings, coordinated kick-off events, maintained relationships with schools, and did everything else humanly possible to make sure the program was a success.
Thank you, Camera Mundi and Master Trainers, for all of your hard work. We wish you a happy summer and even greater success next year.
-CC! National Office
* Correction: an earlier version of this story linked to a slideshow of murals, but they were not the murals done by students.
