Long Beach Elementary Honors 54 for Outstanding Character

Early Wednesday morning, the best of the best at filed into the school’s cafeteria to be honored at the school’s quarterly Character Counts! breakfast.

Fifty-four students, from across all five grade levels, received certificates of achievement from Principal Kevin Lipke. The students were all nominated by their teachers or other faculty for being outstanding classroom participants and upstanding people.

To be nominated, a student must live up to the Six Pillars of Character, a cornerstone of the Character Counts! program. They are: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

Lipke read each student’s nomination aloud, offering hugs and high-fives to each kid as they came forward. Each of the 54 students will also receive a medal for their achievement, although those were not on hand Wednesday morning. Food for the breakfast was donated by Dominick's.

Long Beach Elementary’s school social worker, Brenda Gullickson, said the school awards a similar number of students each quarter. This is the third year they have celebrated with a Character Counts! breakfast. And she said the impact on the winning kids is huge.

“The positive attitude lasts a long time,” she said. “All day long, they’ll be beaming, and the staff will see the medals and high-five them. There’s a positive atmosphere around the whole school.”

Here are the winning students for this quarter.

Kindergarten: Evalyn Halsey, Allison Jordan, Aidan Poetsch, Heather Worland.

First grade: Kalie Gabrys, Gabby Gasnell, Diego Gonzalez, Anna Johnson, Torben Massat, Daniella Navarro, Adam Tobian, Noel Velasquez, Erika Williams, Julian Williams, Emily Zoda.

Second grade: Matylin Barrow, Eloy Bueno, Dylan Colwell, Connor Crain, Brandon Muff, Aryiah Pegues, Elizabeth Ramirez, Karly Robledo, Saul Rodriguez, Eve Wackerlin, Caitlin Walters.

Third grade: Blake Allen, Julian Calderon, Rylee DeLaGarza, Jacob Doggett, Samantha Garcia, Zoe Hallam, Dylan Rice, Cody Sauerwein, Kimberly Tamburrino, Lucy Weiher, Alaina Wolter.

Fourth grade: Jonathon Anderson, Zakiah Black, Austin Buroff, Cesar Flores, Dustin Marsala, Janessa Martinez, Jimmy Worters.

Fifth grade: Kayla Bumalay, Lori Chochole, Nataly Hernandez, Kalista Kopchik, Kaylie Lloyd, Alexis Magana, Isidoro Mejia, Jenna Nevara, Heba Qattum, Mitch Spears.