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Greg Oliver

Orchard Park Elementary Principal Janice Hallman displays the 2009 Core Essentials Award recently presented to her school by Chick-fil-A of Seneca. With Hallman are, from left, Karil Tyler, who, along with her husband, Herb, operates Chick-fil-A of Seneca, the Chick-fil-A cow and media specialist Ginny Brandt. This marks the second time in the last four years that the school has received the award, which demonstrates a commitment to ensuring that character is a valuable part of students' daily lives.

WESTMINSTER — As far as Orchard Park Elementary School is concerned, receiving the 2009 Chick-fil-A Core Essentials award is twice as nice.

Last week, the school received its second Core Essentials award in the past four years and Karil Tyler, who, along with husband, Herb, operates the Chick-fil-A Seneca restaurant, presented a plaque and a $500 check to the school in recognition of its Character Education program. Chick-fil-A currently maintains partnerships with more than 1,100 elementary schools throughout the country in an effort to incorporate character education in the classroom.

Tyler said she and her husband prayed that two schools would use the Character Education program when it was first introduced in 2004. Now, she said every kindergarten through fifth-grade school in Oconee County and Oconee Christian Academy as well as Clemson Elementary and Central Elementary in Pickens County participate.

Ginny Brandt, who serves as Orchard Park Elementary’s media specialist, first became familiar with the Core Essentials program when she worked in Spartanburg School District Six. Therefore, when Chick-fil-A of Seneca began introducing the program to local schools, portions were already being used by Orchard Park after Brandt’s arrival.

“The words are good, the definitions are good and are things you can use to teach the kids,” Brandt said. “They’re very relevant words, and I think that makes it easy for us to take these words and expand on them.”

Under the Core Essentials program, a “value of the month” focus is employed to synchronize the home and school by presenting values on which both can agree.

Brandt cited the word “hope” as an example. She said fifth-grade students are currently studying The Great Depression that began in the late 1920s and continued throughout the 1930s, and some of them have parents who are currently unemployed as a result of the current economic downturn.

“This word, ‘hope’, allows them to see that a better day is coming,” she said.

Chick-fil-A provides materials that include a teacher’s guide, printable posters, a take-home sheet, coloring sheets, newsletter or e-newsletter alerts, weekly announcements and a list of recommended books that tie in with the character value. Teachers also receive value-able cards, redeemable for a free Chick-fil-A Kids Meal, and are encouraged to use the cards as a reward for students caught displaying positive character values.

“We’re planting a seed in these children’s hearts so that, one day, that seed will sprout,” Tyler said.

Orchard Park Elementary Principal Janice Hallman said the school’s winning the award a second time would not have been possible without the efforts of the teachers.

“After winning it the first time, they saw how successful we were and had a buy-in,” Hallman said, adding that local pastors are buying into the program and some are incorporating the Core Essentials values into their sermons.

Most importantly, though, Hallman said students have bought in to the Core Essentials program.

“We have seen more pride, and they see the value of those words and are living those words,” Hallman said.