OKC-based Express Personnel Services expands Heart of a Champion

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Nov 26, 2007 by David Page

Last year, Express Personnel Services, along with the Oklahoma City Blazers and RedHawks, sponsored the Heart of a Champion program for area middle school students.

The program created by the Heart of a Champion Foundation, a nonprofit agency based in Dallas, provides character education materials to elementary, middle school and high school students in 11 states.

About 8,000 middle school students in the Oklahoma City area participated in the character development program during the first year.

This year, Express is not only offering the program to students in the Oklahoma City, Western Heights and Crutcho school districts but also has expanded Heart of a Champion to Lubbock, Texas, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Tacoma, Wash., through sponsorships with Express franchisees in all three cities.

Express Personnel Services provides direct hire, temporary staffing, executive recruiting and human resources services through about 600 offices in four counties.

"As a good corporate citizen, it is important for us not only to take care of the workers for today but for the future," said Linda Haneborg, Express spokeswoman.

In the Oklahoma City Public Schools, about 6,400 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students are participating in the Heart of a Champion program this year, said Rochelle Converse, of Academic Services-John Marshall High School Feeder Group, Oklahoma City Public Schools.

Heart of a Champion's program is offered through language arts and social studies classes in Oklahoma City schools.

Teachers receive special training for the program. Class work is integrated within the Heart of a Champion program.

Group and individual exercises encourage students to apply nine traits to their own lives - commitment, leadership, perseverance, teamwork, respect, integrity, responsibility, self-control and compassion.

In Oklahoma City, students study a different character value each month. Heart of a Champion provides students with a magazine each month with lessons on the target trait.

The program takes about 30 minutes of class time each week, Converse said.

"Students are using their research and reference skills and they are reading, which is part of our literacy focus in the district," she said.

Next year, Express plans to expand sponsorship through franchisees to additional cities. Express also is seeking other major companies as sponsors to expand the program in Oklahoma, Haneborg said.

"Every major company we are talking to in Oklahoma City is interested in stepping forward as a sponsor," she said. "That way we can reach more schools and more students. Our goal is to reach the entire state of Oklahoma."