Muskogee Public Schools students will get new material for their Character Education program through a $25,000 grant from the Sprint Foundation.

The grant will help Muskogee Public Schools buy character education curriculum and other supplements for every school in the district, a Sprint Foundation media release said.

Madison Tomlinson, coordinator for Muskogee High School Project CLEAR, said students from first grade through ninth grade will receive material through the program. Project CLEAR stands for Creative Learning Environment Alcohol Reduction.

“The grant allows us to continue the pattern of character education we started in 2001,” Tomlinson said. “We will buy character education material for students and teachers. It shows how to build such traits as respect, responsibility, punctuality and how to be a caring citizen.”

Tomlinson said he expects the material to arrive early in second semester.

The Sprint Foundation awarded a total of more than $466,000 in grants to 13 school districts in 39 public schools. MPS was one of 1,200 applicants for the grant.

David Walkingstick, who wrote the grant for MPS and works with Muskogee High School’s Character Initiative, said in a media release that the grant will help the district “provide the framework for an integrated, lasting character education program within all our schools, promoting the kind of positive atmosphere that our school district is trying to demonstrate.”

Superintendent Mike Garde said the grant will help reinforce what the city has tried to achieve with the Character Council.

“Instilling good character in young people has always been a goal of public education,” he said “If we can reach kids in elementary school before bad habits have developed, we can help our students lead more fulfilling and productive lives, which increases the quality of life for the whole Muskogee community.”

The Sprint Foundation, a program of the wireless communication company Sprint Nextel, was established n 1989 to help community organizations across the United States.

Reach Cathy Spaulding at 918-684-2928 or Click Here to Send Email