The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum is courageously undertaking action steps to make this happen community-wide.  The first step has been to have two staff members certified as CHARACTER COUNTS! master teachers, the highest level of training available.  Reaching into the school system first was the logical way to reach the most people. The Museum met with Dr. Thomas Lockamy and several of his key leaders to gain their endorsement of CHARACTER COUNTS! in the Savannah Chatham County Public Schools. One school, Thunderbolt Elementary, has been selected as a pilot school, and you can literally feel the excitement for CHARACTER COUNTS! just by walking down the hall of the school.

All of the Museum staff and volunteers have been trained so that they, too, can model the CHARACTER COUNTS! Six Pillars culture.  Docents and tour guides have been trained and new graphics are being designed to be displayed throughout the Museum to reinforce the Six Pillars.

We are gathering community leaders to form alliances between government leaders, businesses and civic groups to unify the entire community with this six-word common language and the common goal of a community of character - all the result of the dream of Eighth Air Force General Lewis E. Lyle who had a vision - not to glorify war but to learn from it, and make sure the legacy of character from its heroes was never forgotten.

The goal of CHARACTER COUNTS! @ The Mighty Eighth within the community is to be a resource to increase the commitment to, understanding of, and proficiency in character development through the Six Pillars of Character framework.  The Museum will use its unique resources to provide leadership and support to promote character-development collaborations among educational, youth-serving, and community organizations.

 The Museum’s role within the educational community is to train, motivate, and offer assistance to teachers, enabling them to be effective character developers through Character Counts!         CHARACTER COUNTS! will add credibility to the Museum’s educational role in the community and allow the Museum to apply for more grants based on the CHARACTER COUNTS! programming.

“Intelligence is not enough.  Intelligence plus character - that is the true goal of education.”

- Dr. Martin Luther King