Students at Hood View Junior Academy (HVJA) in Boring, Ore., will be focusing on their CHARACTER this year: Citizenship, trustwortHiness, leAdership, Respect, fAirness, Caring, honesTy, rEsponsibility, pRide.

On the first day of school, students learned a different hand motion for each trait to help them remember these attributes. Each month, a different pastor will come to talk to the school about one of these characteristics.

Friday, Sept. 14, Jim Bollin, Sandy Church pastor, gave a talk on citizenship. Students from each class were chosen to be the VIPs of citizenship. They sat in a special "VIP Box" and received a prize! Everyone is looking forward to next month to see who will be the VIPs of trustworthiness!