On September 20th, the town of Eatonia held their 3rd annual Character Day to help teach young students important life lessons.

Character Day is an event put together by the school to help teach students about traits like leadership, accountability, social responsibility, kindness, and more. This year was special for the grades 7/8/9 students, who helped to organize this year’s event.

The students helped to put together a Goose Chase scavenger hunt, which consisted of several different tasks that took them all over the town, performing various tasks that each corresponded to a different trait. For example, one mission asked them to take pictures of other groups completing tasks, which related to curiosity, while an organization challenge asked the kids to map out the locations of their missions across town.

Nichole Bredy, a teacher at Eaton School, recounted some events that really stood out to her.

“Another one is when they went to the bank, and they stacked thirty pennies, so the was for perseverance, for the little guys. Another one they did is, they went to the EOL (Eatonia Oasis Living), and they did some leadership tasks there, and it as very sweet because you’d see a lot of kids interacting with those senior citizens, and they did a little karaoke there too.”

There was up to 30 different tasks available for students, with certain tasks being intended for younger students, and others intended for the older students. Bredy also shared what she loves the most about Character Day.

“I love Character Day starting at the beginning of September because I think it’s really important because it helps the kids build relationships with the staff, and the community members, and various other students that may be older or younger than them; it really opens up this mentor-ship opportunity for the older kids to stand up and be leaders.”

While everyone, especially children, learn things in different ways, one of the best ways to learn a new skill or idea is by actively practicing it in the real world. With the wide variety of different missions available to them, the participants of the Eatonia Character Day have no doubt learned some valuable life lessons that will help them for years to come.