By Thomas Panter, Ed.S
On March 27th, 2012, Georgia became the first state in the United States to recognize and dedicate an entire month to history and character. Two students and two eighth grade teachers from Durham Middle School in Acworth, Georgia worked together to bring positive character to their state. As the 8th grade Georgia History teacher at Durham Middle School, I have seen the power of academic service learning before. But I have never been a part of something so powerful and far-reaching as what was about to happen when my governor picked up his pen to sign our bill.
As I watched Georgia Governor Nathan Deal sign the resolution into law, I kept looking at the eyes of my two students as a proud parent would of his own child. I watched as the male student, Ryan Mulkey, looked across the room at his mom and back to me with the biggest smile I have ever seen from him. I watched as the female student, Bethann Shires, fiddled with her hands in nervous anticipation of just the magnitude of this moment. Senator Steve Thompson, a man who worked day after day to make this idea a reality in the Georgia General Assembly, placed his hand on my back to reassure me that it was going to happen. Finally, I glanced at my colleague, Language Arts teacher Mandy Martin, giving her a quick smile – knowing that all the hard work the four of us had done was now worth it. When Governor Deal finished signing the resolution to proclaim September as Georgia History Month with a focus on Georgians of Character and Courage, the crowd in the governor’s office began to applaud. As an eighth grade teacher, I could think of nothing else I could do but turn to my students and colleague who had helped write this new law with me and offer a high five. The four of us joined hands in the air over the Governor’s head and just stood there laughing with joy. We had all collaborated on an authentic learning experience that could help shape the future character of our great state.
It started last October after a great unit on the founding of Georgia. In the unit we studied about the amazing character of Georgia’s founding father, James Oglethorpe. Bethann Shires was required to write about a person she had learned about in social studies that demonstrated great character. She asked a very basic but thought-provoking question. She asked, “Why does Columbus have a holiday but someone like James Oglethorpe does not? Why can’t we have a James Oglethorpe Day?” Another student, Ryan Mulkey, stated, “Oglethorpe had great character but no one seems to care.” As opposed to brushing the question to the side, I asked if we could look into it. Working with the language arts teacher, Mandy Martin, we began a quest to find out if there was anything like that on the books. I found an old 1909 state resolution that made February 12th a day to study Georgia history. It really had no power at all because the state of Georgia pacing guide required that the founding of Georgia and Oglethorpe be taught in September. It also did not address the main issue of character. After discussing this with Miss Martin, we decided to bring the two students together to ask them what they wanted to do about it. When asked, both Ryan and Bethann stated, “Let’s make it happen!”
In December and January, the four of us discussed, bounced ideas off of each other, and changed the name many times. Finally, in late January, we had decided to have a Georgia Day of Character. It would focus on those Georgians that demonstrated great courage and character in the past and the present. We also wanted to have the General Assembly recognize three people annually from present day Georgia who demonstrated great character.
After drafting a persuasive letter with all of our ideas, we e-mailed it over to Senator Thompson for his thoughts. Mandy and I had worked with Senator Steve Thompson a few years earlier in an effort by our students to save a Cherokee historic site, New Echota. Our efforts led to the Governor signing a bill to save it forever. It took less than one day after receiving our letter before we heard the first of many phone calls from our biggest ally, Senator Thompson. He called me quickly and let me know that he was very excited about the idea. In fact, he had brought it up to several colleagues in the General Assembly, and they also loved it. He asked if he could come out to help us write the resolution together in proper form. For the next two weeks Senator Thompson drove from the state capitol and sat with us to create what would be House Bill 1649, Georgia Character Day.
As the week went by, Senator Thompson would call to let me know the resolution’s progress. I frequently placed my phone on speaker for my classes to hear the good news. After passing both houses, Georgia Character Day was placed on Governor Nathan Deal’s desk to sign. Instead, he wanted to think about it. On Thursday, March 22nd, I received a phone call from Senator Steve Thompson who was with Governor Deal. He asked if the four of us would object to a change in our resolution. I began to feel a sickness in my stomach with what I assumed meant bad news. Instead, Governor Deal loved the idea of a focus on character so much that he wanted to bring more power to it. He wanted to change it from a day to a whole month! Of course, I spoke for the other three authors of the bill and shouted, “Yes!” Governor Deal and Senator Thompson both understood that to change the resolution was going to be difficult because of the time constraints. The General Assembly only meets for 40 days and it had but a few days to finish business. To get something amended would have been tough for anyone else, but not when if we had such a dedicated senator to push it through.
With that phone call, our biggest journey was about to begin. I was called by Senator Thompson late Friday night to let me know that it had made its way through both houses and was scheduled to be signed into law on Tuesday, March 27th, at 10:20 a.m. When we arrived at the State capitol, television cameras awaited. After a series of interviews for local news programs, we were met by our local representatives and both State senators, including Senator Thompson. At 10:20 AM, Thompson looked at me, smiled, and said, “Well, it’s time to meet the governor.” As we walked in, I saw Ryan move behind his two teachers. Bethann moved around to the other side of me to look around at the governor of our state. Governor Deal met us all with a great smile and stuck out his hand to greet us all. He told me over and over, “This is a great thing you guys are doing for our state.” I continued to repeat, “Thank you for doing this for us.” When the cameras all arrived, we moved to the back of the Governor’s desk for the signing. Our journey from my Social Studies classroom at Durham Middle School to creating a new state law was about to be completed. But our effort to change the character of the citizens of Georgia was just beginning.
