Local students to receive Kids of Character Award
Honor includes scholarship
The Tulare County Office of Education (TCOE) has recognized nine Porterville area students as Kids of Character in observance of National Character Counts Week (Oct. 16-21).
For 22 years, TCOE has led Tulare County school districts in celebrating the event. This year, 133 Tulare County schools nominated over 6,400 students for the awards, which recognize students who have performed remarkable acts of kindness, made good decisions or served others selflessly in their schools and communities.
On Nov. 2, two winners and four finalists for each of the six core values will be honored at the annual Provident-salierno Family Foundation Awards. The reception, which is open to the public, will be held at 6 p.m. in the TCOE Redwood Conference Center at 6200 S. Mooney Blvd. in Visalia.
The winners and finalists were chosen by the Character Counts review committee to represent each of the Six Pillars of Character — trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. Each pillar is represented by one north county and one south county winner(s), plus two north county and two south county finalists.
Character Counts is a nationwide initiative, created by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, that identifies the six core values as integral to a democratic society. These core values transcend cultural, religious and socioeconomic differences, and allow teachers, parents and community members to build and develop character in youth.
The Kids of Character Awards were the vision of Tulare County Superintendent of Schools Jim Vidak. Through the generous support of the Provident-salierno Family Foundation, students honored each year receive a scholarship.
In the Pillar of Respect category, David Sanchez of Pixley Middle School (eighth grade) was named a winner and Jacob Daguman of Porterville High School (a junior) a finalist.
Cole Machado of Springville Union School (seventh grade) was named a winner and Anali Alcantar of John J. Doyle Elementary School (sixth grade) and Damian Valencia of Strathmore High School (a junior) were finalists in the Pillar of Fairness category.
Eva Barela of Westfield Elementary School (sixth grade) and Melanie Valdez-olivarez of Lincoln Elementary School in Lindsay (seventh grade) were both named finalists in the Pillar of Caring category.
Andrew Ventura of Lindsay High School (a senior) and Shelby Whinery of Porterville High School (a senior) were named finalists in the Pillar of Citizenship category.
A link to all 2017 Kids of Character nominations can be found at tcoe.org/ Kidsofcharacternominees.