The Windsor C-1 School District has always been known for its excellent students and hardworking staff. The district as a whole has won numerous awards over the years pertaining to its admirable displays of character, enthusiastic students and academic distinction.

In the collection of honors accumulated by the district thus far, the newest award to arrive has been the 2018 State School of Character title awarded to the entire Windsor C-1 School District and Windsor Elementary in particular.

Windsor High School faculty members JoAnn Marty, Julie Schubert, Rachel Montgomery and Stephanie Thayer were a part of the drafting committee designed to write the proposal that was sent to Character.org, the website that designated the title.

“We all know what a great district Windsor is, and after the high school was recognized as a School of Character at the national level, Windsor Elementary in the process, we kind of wanted the rest of the community to know how great we are. We met as a District of Character committee, and we came up with our core values and our mission statements. Then, there are eleven principles that must be met by Character.org to be considered a District of Character. We have to write an application. If they feel as if your application warrants a visit, you get a visit. After visits and interviews go well, you get named a State District of Character which is what we were named. We are now in the process of being considered for National District of Character, so that will require another visit, and I’m waiting to hear back to set that up. It’s a five year process,” Marty said.

Character.org’s guidelines on what determines whether or not a school should be recognized as a School of Character follows the trend of promoting essences of positive and comprehensive character, an influence of a compassionate, ethical, and inspiring learning environment, a provision of rigorous academia, and an installment of community.

“It’s a recognition. It shows that our school is about building character and people, making the students not just students that excel academically or successful athletically, but helping them develop into strong, compassionate, caring citizens. It’s a rarity. It’s a very detailed process, and to be honest with you, we would do what we do even if we weren’t recognized. We all know what we are doing is the right thing to help our students which is our priority above all. This recognition just allows people to know the value of where they are sending their kids to school or where they’re considering moving to,” said Marty.

Senior Shelby Morgan is a large proponent of Windsor’s significance to students, faculty, and other members of the community, and she wishes that everyone could acknowledge how great the school district is in her eyes.

“I think that it reflects the attitudes of the whole district and how lucky we are to have administrators that shape us to be people who have a strong sense of character. We got this award because we are unique in the sense that our school has a great essence of camaraderie. We all get along, and instead of the atmosphere being very cliquey and separated, we all support each other. I think we should be known because, again, we are very unique compared to other schools in the area,” said Morgan.