The 2021 Lennox Champions of Character: Caleb Sayler, Mara Hinker and Tyler Plank spoke to the Lennox Intermediate students on March 5 to help them understand the power of courage and the importance of having courage to have character.
The Champions told the students that having character means facing your fears with confidence and knowing that you can succeed with courage and confidence in whatever you do.
The seniors also discussed admitting that you did something wrong or something wasn’t right is an example of where you can find courage in your everyday life. Even though it might not feel like it at the time, it takes courage to admit you did something wrong. We can find courage inside of us. Courage empowers us to do the things we love and keep going. Sometimes courage is facing your fears to enable you to do things that might be difficult at times.
Why do we need courage? When you put yourself out there you can find courage whether playing sports or starting a new job, or getting in trouble, you need to use courage and step out of your comfort zone find courage to step up and do the right thing.
Trying something new is a great way to find courage. There are lots of people that are very courageous, like our armed forces, police and firefighters but even people close to us can teach us to be courageous. Just trying something new that we may not think we can do, can be a great way to use our courage.
Inside each of us is a leader and we need courage to use our character to make a good decision. To be a person of character we need to be trustworthy. We need to have trust in our teammates, friends and family and know that they will teach you things in life that will help you succeed and help you learn to the best of your abilities. We also need respect by following rules and thanking people in our schools, like teachers, custodians, lunch workers and bus drivers that work every day to make our school a better place.
The Champions also said we need to be accountable. People need to count on you to do what is right or do what you say you will do. Your teachers count on you to get your homework done so that you can learn and respecting them and getting things done will set you on a right track for being an accountable person.
Another thing they said is it takes courage to be a good citizen. Keeping you community clean, helping in the classroom and volunteering to help people out in your neighborhood are all great examples of being a good citizen. It takes courage to give a complement, or help someone that is sad or just do something to make someone’s day but by showing kindness and respect to others we can be a person of good character.
The seniors said, “It is important to know when to have courage to do the right thing”. We need to think it through and if you have a gut feeling that it is wrong, you need to find the courage to do what is right even though others may not, it will make you a better person and you will feel better about who you are.
The Champions gave the students some parting advice of what they wanted them to remember:
1. Having good character is hard sometimes and as you get older you can face situations that are tough but you need to think about it and use your character to know that you have made the right decision. Each day we should find one thing kind to say to people because you never know what difference it can make in someone’s life.
2. Sometimes you are put in situations that you are not comfortable with but you need to follow your gut and have the courage to do what is right and don’t listen to others that are trying to get you to do bad things.
3. To be a good person you need to be trustworthy, respectful, and accountable, be a good citizen and show kindness. All these things take courage to do and it might not always be the easiest thing to do but if you do those things you will be a better person and people will like you better as a person.
Thank you to the Champions of Character at Lennox High School for some great advice to the younger students to have the courage to stand up for what is right and, have strong values and face their fears with courage and good character.
