Contact Person:
	Carolyn A. Travers
	Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development
	18410 Muncaster Road
	Derwood, MD 20855

Presenters:
         Carolyn Travers		Kendra Wells
         Derwood, MD		        College Park, MD

Description:
Come learn how character contributes to the "whole" person and how character education can become a part of your Extension education programs without adding additional work!

Conference Objective:
This workshop is intended to help conference attendees:

• strive to look at the "whole" person in terms of wellness and job performance.
• strive to broaden their horizons without broadening their work load.

Abstract:
"Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are a gift. Character is not given to us. We have to build it piece by piece - by thought, choice, courage, and determination." Arthur Lenehan

Being a person of character is not easy. Yet, character is a part of who we are as Extension educators, parents, friends, spouses, neighbors, and citizens. Our character influences the decisions we make, the way we relate to people and the way others see us. Exercising character means making a commitment to being responsible, trustworthy, respectful, fair, caring, and a good citizen, not just when it brings us personal gain, or doesn't really matter, but ALL the time.

In 1992, a diverse group of educational and youth-service leaders, including 4-H professionals, were convened by the Josephson Institute of Ethics to find consensus in a "common denominator" of values on which Americans could agree, whatever their politics, religious views, race, ethnicity or socio-economic status. Our highly interactive session will explore the six Pillars of Character adopted at that meeting. We'll look at ways character education can be infused in Extension programs. Because of its collaborative origins, "Character Counts!" lends itself to building coalitions and partnerships for program delivery thus giving Extension a higher visibility in the community. Practical ideas for creating environments that will help us to live up to the pillars at work, home and in the community will be shared. We'll also explore the stages through which people go to learn ethical decision making by studying Kohlberg's theories. These theories will help us to develop evaluation tools.

Come learn how character contributes to the "whole" person. Change the way you look at character development in your professional and personal life. Find simple ways that character education can easily become a part of our Extension education programs and coalitions without adding additional work. Character development is an evolving process. None of us has a halo but, if we become more aware of the many aspects of character, we can learn to make ethical decisions that will have positive effects on our lives. In fact, good character may be the most valuable life skill any of us can learn!