Cherry Hill school saluted for 'culture' of character

At Rosa International Middle School in Cherry Hill, the first period isn't called advisory. It's Transformation and Discovery, because that's what happens then.

At this school of 800 students, they don't just talk community service. They do it. Like the seventh-grade girl who raised enough money to give teddy bears to more than 700 sick children. Or the class that got together the funds to help a poor child in Uganda go to school.

At Rosa, it's all about the children and character.

"We've created a culture, a mind-set," said principal Ed Canzanese.

Soon, Rosa will be rewarded.

Next month, Rosa will be honored as a National School of Character by the Character Education Partnership at its annual conference in Washington. Rosa was one of 11 winners - 10 schools and one district - nationwide. The school will be awarded $20,000, half of which will be used to help other schools develop character education.

The funds are donated by the West Conshohocken-based John Templeton Foundation, which funds research in philosophy, theology, the natural sciences, poverty, and other fields. It was founded by John M. Templeton, a pioneer in mutual funds who died in July.

Previous national winners include Radix Elementary School in Williamstown and Zane North Elementary School in Collingswood. This year, Leary Elementary School in Warminster and Brigantine (N.J.) Elementary School were finalists.

This is also the second year Rosa was named a New Jersey School of Character, sharing the honor with Horace Mann and Woodcrest, two other Cherry Hill schools.

Character education is a districtwide initiative in Cherry Hill. At Rosa, it has a hand in all parts of school life.

"It doesn't come in a box," said librarian Nina Kemps. "It's in everything we do."

At Rosa, a magnet school designed around the International Baccalaureate Organization's Middle Years Philosophy program, character education isn't a lecture on making nice. It's about exploring mutual respect among adults, students and peers, responsibility, and making a difference in big and small ways.

In the library, Kemps might be on the lookout for a random act of kindness - a student returning a lost iPod, or taking time to help a classmate with something. She would send home a Raptor's Claw, a note named after the school mascot, to tell the student's parents about the good deed.

First thing every morning, students have Transformation and Discovery. Students agree that what they say in class remains confidential so that everyone can speak freely.

Teachers Christy Marrella and Chai Chuenmark had their eighth graders talking about how much they do - or do not - communicate with their parents.

"I think we could flip the roles for one day," said Marrella. "You quiz them. Let's see how much your parents know about you."

The idea: At tonight's Back to School night, parents will be given a questionnaire on their children - who their friends are, their locker number, where they like to shop.

"Are we going to make this, like, multiple choice?" Michael Reisman, 13, suggested mercifully.

The point of the exercise isn't to snag parents, Marrella said. "It's about communication."

At Rosa, a Character Education Committee of teachers, staff and parents meets monthly. Each year, school staff have two in-service training days to focus on character education. It even works into the school's take on sports.

"We tell them, participation is winning," said principal Canzanese, explaining the school tries to let as many students as possible play. Sure, they like victory, he said, "but the most important thing is who we are."

While the state Department of Education supports character education, it is not part of the required curriculum. The Character Education Partnership began in 1993 in Virginia as a nonprofit, nonpartisan and nonsectarian organization to promote character education in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Canzanese got involved with Rosa when the school was in the formation stage. He was a district administrator with aspirations of becoming an assistant superintendent, and he was charged with helping put together the school's first budget.

Canzanese liked what he saw so much that he decided to chuck his central administration goals, and he asked to become Rosa's vice principal.

"This was the school I was dreaming of," Canzanese said.

In his school, teachers are encouraged to be mentors, and community service is a given for all.

"I think one of our great strengths is, we are a very nurturing and loving environment," said Gretchen Seibert, a language-arts teacher who started her own foundation, Outside the Dream, to help children in Uganda.

Moved by what they learned about Uganda through her, her seventh graders have raised the money to sponsor the education of a Ugandan girl for the last two years. They correspond as well.

Some Rosa students have had the notion to do community service on their own and found a lot of boosters at their school.

Last year, Josh Warren, now 13, decided he wanted to do a fund-raiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, partly for his bar mitzvah project and partly to give back to the organization that had helped his older brother when he was ill. With his brother's and parents' help, he said, he collected loads of donations, got free space for a bowl-athon from the Cherry Hill Playdrome, and ended up raising $62,000.

Jenny Silver, now 12, was in the fourth grade when she decided she wanted to do something for young victims of Hurricane Katrina. She approached Build-A-Bear Workshop, which agreed to sell her bears at discount. She got a local bowling alley to donate space so she could raise money. She ended up sending more than 300 bears to New Orleans.

Last year, her first at Rosa, her bowling event at the Playdrome raised enough to give 704 bears to patients at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.

Both said support at school was key.

"It really made a huge difference when so many people wanted to help out," said Silver, who is planning to hold her fourth Bowling for Bears on Dec. 7.

Staffers at Rosa are enormously proud of their young philanthropists. But when it comes to building character, sometimes you start small.

One day last week, sixth graders, new to middle school, lockers, changing teachers and the like, were assigned to make birthday cards. The hitch: The cards had to be for people they didn't know before they came to Rosa.

Julia Dintino, 11, said she thought it was a great idea. At her old school, she said, "it was one girl's birthday, and everyone forgot. She felt really bad."

At Rosa, the cards are waiting.