Focus on character

Today we continue our series profiling some of the High Desert’s Most Inspiring Women. Those profiled were nominated and selected by Daily Press readers. To view more profiles and videos in the series, click here.

APPLE VALLEY • Amid a culture of vulgarity, profanity, disrespect and a loss of wholesome values, Phyllis Carnahan teaches character.

The teachers and staff at Sitting Bull Middle School call her a genuine, caring person who inspires them to be positive role models.

And not only does she educate her school in having integrity, staff members say she is a living example of character.

These are just a few of the reasons she was nominated as one of the 2010 Daily Press Most Inspiring Women.

“Mrs. Carnahan strongly believes in giving her students not just academic education, but a moral education,” said Sue Davies, Carnahan’s assistant at Sitting Bull. Davies nominated Carnahan for the honor. “She has made character education a cornerstone of the curriculum.”

Davies is referring to the Character Counts program Carnahan implemented at Sitting Bull over the last four years. The program comes from the Josephson Institute. Its curriculum focuses on basic values the institute calls “Six Pillars of Character”: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

Carnahan sent her staff to training seminars with the institute so they would be prepared to make the program a part of every-day instruction. The school has an advisory period each morning during which instructors give lessons from the program. In addition, each student has a character advocate on campus who they can go to for positive reinforcement.

Before she became an administrator, Carnahan was a middle school teacher. She said it was during this time that she saw a trend in students that needed help.

“I felt that the students were so self-centered at times, and had a very hard time being respectful,” Carnahan said. Reading Michael Josephson’s column “Character Counts” regularly steered her towards a solution to the problem. “I knew if I ever became an administrator, I would use the character lessons with the kids to make it a part of them.”

Now, after four years of those character lessons on a daily basis, she said parents and visitors to the school comment regularly on the change in the school’s culture.

Those visitors include a team of educators who awarded Sitting Bull in 2009 as a California Distinguished School.

“During our first year at the school, kids were rude and disrespectful, but now four years later, students just generally seem more caring and respectful,” said teacher Cherrie Reinwand. “And a lot of it comes from her own character. She actually lives those character traits, both professionally and personally.”

Davies, who has known and worked with Carnahan for more than 20 years, remembers a moment during the first year Sitting Bull was open when Carnahan put the basics of the character curriculum into play.

As several students were playing basketball after classes, Carnahan noticed a sixth-grader who wasn’t participating.

“This little girl had come to live with her grandparents up here and was always by herself because she didn’t have any friends,” Davies recalls. Carnahan approached the student and asked why she wasn’t joining her classmates. The student said she didn’t know much about basketball. Carnahan, a bit of a sports fan herself — she has a Stanley Cup replica in her office, according to Davies — invited the young girl to come shoot some hoops with her on another part of the court.

“After that, the girl told Mrs. Carnahan no one ever played with her and she was very thankful,” Davies said. Carnahan returned the gratitude, thanking the student for the fun time. The bonding would continue for several weeks after that first round of hoops.

“The student sent Mrs. Carnahan a note around the holidays that year, thanking her for being such a friend,” Davies said. “The girl had more self-confidence and had found some friends.”

Davies said the following school year, that same student got involved in college prep and drama activities.

“She really blossomed,” Davies said.

Carnahan, a regular at High Desert Church, said it was her faith that led her into school administration, and helped her believe she could make a difference.

“To be good citizens, we all have to at least try to model for our kids,” Carnahan said. “In whatever we’re doing, we must model good character traits. That’s how they learn — by watching us.”

For more information on the Josephson Institute, go to CharacterCounts.org.

Martial Haprov may be reached at (760) 951-6236 or at mhaprov@VVDailyPress.com.

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