Character • Honor • Integrity
The C.H.I. Story & Award
These are the artifacts and the stories behind them: the bracelet I wore for 26 years, the caps my students wore with me, the wristbands they collected, and the award that grew from a personal graduation gift into the school’s highest character honor.
C.H.I. in the Classroom
I put C.H.I. at the front of the room. Frogs framed the three letters. Under them, students could read what the words meant, and along the bottom the Latin reminder they heard all year: Finis origine pendet — the end depends upon the beginning.
The frog-themed poster carried the same three words, the same two Latin phrases, and a border of Bible verses. The wording in these photographs is the classroom wording, left as it was posted.
The Bracelet I Kept Wearing
A student made this C.H.I. wristband for me in September 2000. I wore it to school for the next 26 years, and I restrung it again and again as the elastic wore out.
Hank — the Labrador before Sammy — snagged it several times, scattering beads across the driveway and lawn. The most memorable recovery came after the loose beads were waiting in a zippered bag on the counter. Hank ate the bag and the beads. I spent two days retrieving beads from Hank’s droppings, recovered the C, H, and I beads, cleaned them thoroughly, and restrung the bracelet.
On the rare days I forgot it, the first student to notice earned extra credit on the next exam. I kept wearing this original bracelet even after the school offered colored rubber C.H.I. wristbands.
In Solidarity with Mr. E.
The MVCS C.H.I. “Chemo Cap” was a gift from the junior high student body.
I was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2003 and underwent chemotherapy over the years. During one course of treatment I lost my hair and wore a ball cap to school.
One lunchtime, the entire junior high surprised me outside my classroom wearing matching caps in solidarity with Mr. E. They all wore the hats for the next few months until my hair grew back.
C.H.I. Beyond the Classroom
Students collected the colored rubber wristbands and even kept their older siblings’ bands.
The plate in the photograph reads CHI 4LFE. A former student displayed it on his truck for several years. When he sold the truck, he explained the C.H.I. story to the DMV, received permission to keep the plate, and presented it to me as a gift.
The C.H.I. Award
I originally chose the eighth-grade C.H.I. Award recipient by watching students over the two years they were with me. I looked for everyday Character, Honor, and Integrity: kindness beyond a student’s own friends, honesty, care for those less fortunate, comforting someone who was sad, sitting with a student who was alone at lunch, and helping a new student belong. The center of it was Non sibi — not for oneself.
The award began as my personal award, presented at graduation. Over many years it became a junior high award. Eventually the school embraced it as its pinnacle character award.
By 2024, the junior high staff discussed prospective recipients after watching them over two years — in classrooms, on trips, in sports, and in other activities. We were not looking for a perfect person. None of us is.
Click the photograph to enlarge the plaque.