CHARACTER COUNTS! in Martin County awarded 17 mini-grants totaling $10,000 to faculty and staff in the Martin County School District during National CHARACTER COUNTS! Week Oct. 18 through 24.

Now in its third year, the CHARACTER COUNTS! mini-grant program funds projects to promote, implement and enrich CHARACTER COUNTS! character education programs.

Since 2007, this program has awarded $33,770 to 52 individual classrooms, school-wide and district-wide projects and has impacted more than 25,000 students and families in Martin County.

The recipients of this year's mini-grants are:

• Citrus Grove Elementary, Lana Barros - Groove Tube
• Citrus Grove Elementary, Bonnie Strohl - Character Counts All Day!
• Crystal Lake Elementary, Mark Scholl - CHARACTER COUNTS! Cubes
• Hidden Oaks Middle School, Michael Dailey, Judy Scott and Helen Harvey - Caught Ya...Being Good!
• Hobe Sound Elementary, June Parrilli - Getting to Know America
• Hope Rural School, Jessica McGaha - Learning Character Through Film and Fiction
• Indiantown Middle, Jennifer Gironda - Altered Awareness, Expressing Themes of Respect, Fairness and Caring Through Altered Books
• Indiantown Middle, Erin Noxon - International Culture Unit
• Indiantown Middle, Robert Vanover and Sally Roegiers - Building Character Through Literature
• Jensen Beach Elementary, Cherie Baumgartner - Do You Have What It Takes?
• J D Parker Elementary, Jade Cheramie - Parker Pays It Forward
• J D Parker Elementary, Tammy Nolan - Peaceful Parker
• Pinewood Elementary, Shannon Pretorius and PBS Team - Pillars of Our Community
• Stuart Middle, Dyron Curry - In 2009 It's Time to Shine!
• F A Williams Elementary, Kathleen Buckley - Building Character Through Writing
• F A Williams Elementary, Eileen Torounian and Fourth Grade Team - Read! Perform! Learn!
• F A Williams Elementary, Vicki Weber - Three is the Key