The first Character Wednesday of the 2025-2026 school year was yesterday during Academic period. The theme was “Attitude of Gratitude” and featured a video of Assistant Principal Kristin Montague and Principal Paul Weinheimer discussing this theme.
“Several years ago, we came up with the idea to teach, share and invite conversation in reference to character lessons,” Weinheimer said. “We understood that we did a great job teaching the curriculum, but we also wanted to be intentional about teaching students about displaying positive character on a consistent basis.”
The goal of Character Wednesday is to give students the tools it takes to be successful in reference to character and integrity.
“We will continue to give questions for discussion during academics and we will ask students about these questions throughout the day and week,” Weinheimer said. “We will also make announcements and move about the building to encourage everyone to stay involved with their character lesson.”
Character Wednesday started about seven years ago.
“[Character Wednesday] means that all Badgers come together to learn more about character traits and hold each other accountable to be great people as well,” Weinheimer said. “It is imperative that our students leave LHS knowing how to treat people and do things the right way.”
Weinheimer created Character Wednesday, and Montague now leads it.
“It has been great to see [Character Wednesday] grow and evolve over time,” Weinheimer said. “I continue to hope that we can teach our students to be great people and treat others with kindness.”
Junior Asher Wade said Character Wednesday seems to have a positive impact on students and their everyday lives.
“When the idea of Character Wednesday first came up, I was confused on how it would actually help students,” Wade said. “But overtime, I’ve seen other students have better attitudes and be nicer to people all around.”
Student council sponsor and English 3 teacher Jenn Moore said she will help contribute to Character Wednesday in anyway Montague finds it appropriate for StuCo.
“Honestly, I doubt you’ll find a teacher who truly believes our sole purpose is to teach quadratic formula, causes of WWII, or how to write an essay to pass a standardized test,” Moore said. “We’re ALL here because we straight-up know there is so much more to this school thing. We believe true confidence comes only from genuine and humble work. To me, resilience is the most important thing a human can learn in school which might unlock future potential.”
Moore said gratitude, perspective and perseverance are required to practice and achieve resilience.
“A focus of mine, this year, is curiosity,” Moore said. “I’m trying to instill that in my students while working on engagement. A person who remains curious is rarely truly bored.”
Moore’s favorite part of Character Wednesday is simply listening.
“I think that’s something we teachers should do more often,” Moore said. “Rather than assume or project our own intentions, it’s important to step back and simply listen without judgement. Character Wednesday gives my class an opportunity to think and speak freely.”
