News Release Distributed 05/30/09

LSU AgCenter 4-H will seek for the first time this year a school in Louisiana with outstanding character education practices to submit for national recognition through the Character Education Partnership, a youth advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

“Our 4-H program has had a major initiative in character education for the past 12 years,” said Mark G. Tassin, LSU AgCenter 4-H director. “Now we’re seeking to gain more recognition for this effort. Character education programs have been conducted by 4-H’ers in schools in every parish.”

So far, information about the State Schools of Character award has been distributed to schools across the state, said Kimberly Jones, coordinator for 4-H character education.

“We plan a major promotion of the competition after school starts in the fall,” Jones said.

The deadline for nominations is Dec. 1, 2009, and the winner will be announced by the first of the year.

“The selected school will then be Louisiana’s nomination for the National Schools of Character award,” Jones said. “This first year we will submit only one school, but we will expand our number of state winners in the future.”

Since 1998, the Character Education Partnership has recognized 10 public and private schools (K-12) per year as National Schools of Character. The State Schools of Character program was established in 2006.

For more information about this award or about the 4-H character education program, please contact Jones at 225-578-2196 or kyjones@agcenter.lsu.edu.