Vista Del Mar Middle School hosts Patriotic 'Character Counts' Jamboree

San Clemente locals of all ages enjoyed the free, patriotic family fun.

Vista Del Mar Middle School hosted a "Character Counts Jamboree" on Saturday featuring more than 75 booths dedicated to educating children and parents about character development.

"This is event is a great intersection between our incredible social service organizations in town and the future generations of San Clemente," said San Clemente Mayor Lori Donchak.

"We have a lot of young kids turning out for this and it's also a great added extra from our police department."

In addition to character education, the event featured booths from businesses and charities as well as displays by law enforcement.

Character Counts is an organization that provides schools with tools to educate children about ethics.

"We're here to celebrate all the wonderful families we have, our American values and just have good family time," said Leslie Mowers, crime prevention specialist and Character Counts coordinator. "We pick two kids from each classroom based on our six pillars of character, which are trustworthiness, responsibility, respect, fairness, caring and citizenship."

The jamboree began in patriotic fashion with the national anthem sung by 16-year-old Olivia Duncan.

"At my school, this is really important to us and it's cool to come here and be a good example for these kids," Duncan said.

Just outside of the booths lining the blacktop were police and bomb-squad cars, combat-style hummers and a boat from the harbor patrol for all to see and explore. The displays ranged from combat-style gear, an interactive bomb-squad robot that carefully poked and prodded curious onlookers and a plethora of SWAT team weapons.

"We're acting as a support group out here, trying to get donations together for care packages for our Fort Point Marines who are currently conducting combat operations in Afghanistan," said Pfc. Matthew Knopp, 19. "We're getting a lot of young kids. They love the makeup and trying on the gear."

The jamboree also featured performances by the San Clemente High School marching band, cheer squad and dance team in the center of the grass field. The family-friendly booths showcased information ranging from such health issues as tobacco smoking to the importance of the local butterfly population.

"I think it's a great, practical way of showing the kids what it means to have character and what it means to have integrity," said Paul D'Auria, San Clemente chief of police services. "We can say all day long 'you have to be a good kid, you have to have character,' but kids don't understand what that means and Character Counts is a practical way of showing them."

Read the full article at: https://patch.com/california/sanclemente/vista-del-mar-middle-school-hosts-patriotic-characterae0df9195d