Edisto High School won out over five other teams to collect the first place trophy during the inaugural Champions for Character competition Tuesday evening at The Cinema in Orangeburg, but the real winner was character education for students in Orangeburg County schools.

Sponsored by the Orangeburg County Community of Character Initiative, teams from six high schools, made up of ninth-graders selected by each school’s Community of Character advisors, assisted in the development of their own Champions for Character program.

Each team presented their final skit, exemplifying various desirable character traits featured in their school’s program, to a panel of three judges.

Orangeburg Mayor Paul Miller opened the competition by telling the students and parents gathered for the event, “You are our future, and we are behind you 100 percent. I’m so glad our leaders had the foresight to get the Community of Character initiative started nine years ago.”

Nancy Ayers, a competition judge who is also a current board member and past president of the Community of Character Board of Directors, said the organization’s efforts to build gradually in the schools have paid big dividends.

“We started with the character emphasis in kindergarten, and then we moved it into the fourth and fifth grades to the point that we have had a third-, fourth- and fifth-grade character program now for five years (the Outstanding Character Recognition Program where students participate in a character essay),” Ayers said. “Then we went into ‘Catch A Kid,’ which was an innovative idea for eighth-graders. This is our first year that we have moved the initiative into the high schools, starting with the ninth grade.”

Skits were presented by ninth-grade teams from Edisto, North and Orangeburg-Wilkinson High Schools, plus Orangeburg Preparatory School and the Orangeburg Technology Center. A number of different character traits — such as honesty, courage, fairness, good manners and courtesy — were featured in the single-act presentations.

Victoria Coleman, a Branchville High School Champions for Character team member, explained the importance of the initiative to her school.

“The character traits we highlighted tonight — respect, responsibility and safety — are traits that our principal announces every day. Our students truly strive to live by these traits, making our school a better place,” Coleman said.

Dr. Robert Johnson, the ninth-grade guidance counselor at Edisto High School, said the win by the Cougars’ skit team was a total school effort that began with the principal, who let each ninth-grade teacher select a student based on the featured character trait of each month.

“Each of the ninth-grade teachers identified two or three students to participate in this program since October of last year,” Johnson said. “They’ve been working extremely hard, but most importantly, they exhibited good character and they shared these traits with their fellow classmates.”

He added, “Winning this trophy demonstrates to our kids that hard work, dedication, honesty and respect pays off.”

T&D Correspondent Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at pmhsarata@aol.com.

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