Elementary school earns top honor

BRICK TOWNSHIP - The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that the goal of true education is intelligence plus character.

The teachers and students at Veterans Memorial Elementary School put Dr. King's words into practice every day.

"Our teachers infuse character education into every lesson," said VMES Assistant Principal Jennifer Whitner.

For leading the way in character education, VMES was chosen as a 2008 New Jersey School of Character and will be honored by the New Jersey Department of Education and the New Jersey Center for Character Education in June.

The honor means that the VMES will have the opportunity to serve as a mentor school for another school that is building its character education through the "Fostering Change in School Culture through Character Education" Project.

The school has focused on six pillars of character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship, Whitner said.

Character education has been targeted throughout the school year in the school's cafeteria and on the school buses through daily, weekly and monthly raffles, she said.

"These are areas where we found a lot of kids' character traits weren't shining through," Whitner said.

Students are recognized for their good behavior at the school's monthly reading rallies, where students are rewarded for recreational reading.

In the school's monthly "Dear Gabby" advice column, students get to respond to character situations that can happen in or out of school.

VMES's Green Schools Initiative encourages students to protect the planet by renewing the school's outside areas with flowers and plants, maintaining a greenhouse and fish pond, participating in a battery recycling program, and conserving energy.

VMES's application will also be entered into the competition for a National School of Character grant award from the Character Education Partnership in Washington, D.C., Whitner said.