By Noah Bell
Staff Writer
Associated Student Body members and Costa staff hosted its first character assembly on March 9 during A.M. office hours in the Mustang Mall to formally introduce the new core values that students and staff voted on as the eight most important characteristics for a great student.
The winning characteristics were dependability, compassion, respect, leadership, integrity, tolerance, determination, and loyalty which were printed on banners that were hung up on light posts on the weekend of March 5 and 6, around the Mustang Mall in preparation for the assembly.
“The core values program is an overall character building program that the Staff and students will work together on. We are calling them core values,” said Franca Stadvec, PTSA Legislation. “Students voted and they were revealed by ASB at the first character assembly.”
Stadvec said that the program creators hope that the core values become guidelines for students and staff to work together on in order to improve the overall well-being of the students. Every assembly will contain opportunities for individuals to recognize each other. There will be approximately five assemblies each year, each one in the Mustang Mall.
“What I like about the core values that sets it apart is that it is not tied to any organizations,” ASB advisor Lisa Claypoole said. “Once the program gets up and running, anyone at the school will be able to honor anybody else for an achievement.”
The new core values project will give much more opportunity for individual recognition. At the first Character Assembly, Costa Principal’s Secretary Heather Hoffman was given a Costa Commendation award to recognize the hard work she does.
“The core values program places an individual set of supports on someone, and an individual recognition as a contributor to the awesome success that Costa has,” Claypoole said.
After starting the character program at Manhattan Beach Middle School, creators Franca Stadvec, Tracie Haber, Paki Wolfe and Sandi Gleason wanted to bring the project to Mira Costa.
“The PTSA mom group I worked with care about our school and community, and they are good people,” Claypoole said. “They asked me because they know they wanted someone who cared about the campus to help spearhead the project.”
The project is aimed at creating a whole new sense of unity between staff and students at the school, which will in turn benefit both the student’s and staff’s health and morale. School spirit and relationships between students and staff that have the ability to change tremendously.
“When this project first started, I was reluctant to begin a whole new project,” Claypoole said. “It’s such a valuable idea that they sold me, and now I have made it my mission to sell to you, and to the campus, because I love the idea of making some of the recognition individual.”
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