Newington Forest sixth-grader Seth Jordan was out of breath when he reached the stage on his hobby horse named "Trigger." He had a Lone Ranger mask but instead of fighting evil with Tonto, he was "Character Ed," a local superhero, who stressed the five character-education traits to fellow students at Newington Forest.
Seth was out of breath after doing a lap around all the students, faculty and guests at the school’s first pep rally, Friday, Sept. 6. He joined principal Donna Lewis on stage.
"I'm here to find a partner who is caring, honest, responsible, respectful and cooperative," he said.
Those are the five character-education traits that are stressed at schools across the county. Character Ed is a creation of the staff at Newington Forest. They started it four years ago. Lewis called it spontaneous.
"We do this whole character education. We had this young man that was just perfect for the role. He was a natural, and he was a ham. Seth is like that," she said.
Seth, 11, was notified of the role back in August and already had his first assignment, an unruly student. Seth had a word with him.
"Character education is to get people to act better. We talked, and he acted better," he said.
Seth knows the job of Character Ed is more than just donning a costume.
"I have to act responsibly, set an example. I can't just say those good things, I have to be good," he said.
Sometimes he's a guest speaker on morning announcements as well.
AT THE PEP rally, the agenda revolved around being better people before they're students.
"Boys and girls, we are here because we care, like Character Ed said," Lewis said.
The rally was kicked off by one father, Christian Hinkle, who did the “Star Spangled Banner” on the trumpet. He is a member of the U.S. Army Band. Also in attendance was Cluster director Betsy Fenske; PTA representatives; community safety officer Tim Thomas, Fairfax County Police Department; and the Kazoo Marching Band, of teachers and staff. A local Boy Scout troop, led by scout leader Mark Visbeck, presented the colors.
Thomas talked about his upcoming plans as a member of the Fairfax County Police bike team, and their memorial ride back from Battery Park in New York City to the Pentagon on Sept. 11. It's a 250-mile ride.
"This Saturday, I'm going to leave New York on my bike, on the morning of Sept. 11, we're going to ride in to the ceremony at the Pentagon. I get to do that," he said.
Last year's Character Ed was actually Edna, portrayed by Katie Robey.
"It's always a sixth-grader. As a rule, it's someone that the kids look up to," said school counselor Beth Gross.
CHARACTER EDUCATION is a statewide program, and Fairfax County is one of three jurisdictions that received part of a grant to develop its own program. Stafford and Albemarle counties were the other two, according to Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) communications specialist Mary Shaw.
"The state passed something in 1999 requiring local school boards to establish a character-education program. We are one of three school districts designated by the Department of Education to set the benchmark," Shaw said.
There is a special office for character education in the FCPS administrative building at the University Drive Center.