Students’ words of wisdom define integrity for adults

By Kate York, kyork@mariettatimes.com
The words of Putnam Elementary students soon will be seen daily by the workers at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where the adults hope to be reminded by the children to live and work with integrity.

The company has had an Integrity Committee for nearly two years, one of six value teams formed at Thermo Fisher Scientific. The committee had established guidelines and reminders of how to act with integrity. But when it came time for an update Thermo Fisher turned to its partner in education, Putnam Elementary, for some fresh ideas on the concept.

The school’s third-, fourth- and fifth-graders spent some time learning what integrity means and then writing personal statements about what it meant to them. Four winners in each grade were chosen by Thermo Fisher’s Integrity Committee Monday.

“We were very impressed,” said Larry Nicholson, a member of the committee. “Some of the words they used were just incredible. At their age, to be able to do this so well was wonderful.”

Emma Hager, one of the third-grade winners, wrote in her statement that integrity involved self-respect, keeping your hands and feet to yourself and treating people the way you want to be treated.

“I didn’t really know what it meant when we started this,” said Hager, 9. “But now I know that it’s about honesty and being nice, and I think it’s really cool that they’re going to use what we wrote.”

The 12 winning pieces will be published in the Thermo Fisher newsletter and posted on bulletin boards throughout the company.

“We want to share this with everybody and reinforce to the employees what integrity means,” said Mark Bartlett, Integrity Committee team leader. “We wanted their help to remind us. And it gives the students a chance to see some values they’ll need in the workplace one day.”

Fifth-grade winner Amber Underwood said she originally had a little difficulty putting her thoughts about integrity into words but by the end of the exercise she had a good grasp on what integrity meant and how she planned to practice it.

“Our teacher told us it’s like always being ready to give the shirt off your back,” said Underwood, 11. “I was guessing a little at the beginning, but now I know it’s about helping.”

Underwood’s statement even pointed out that, to her, integrity, means helping out animals because people aren’t the only ones in need of a helping hand.

Other students wrote about keeping promises, being trustworthy and having good intentions.

Fourth-grader Jack Farrar kept his definition short and simple: “Integrity means being responsible for my actions,” he wrote.

But the 10-year-old could easily think of some real-life examples of people acting with integrity, including when his father accidentally broke his sister’s toy while doing yard work.

“When my sister asked who did it, he said that it was him,” Farrar said. “He took responsibility.”

All of the 140 students who participated received certificates for their work, with teachers receiving money to spend in their classrooms and the 12 winners being given Marietta Bucks to spend in town.

“They’re all great kids,” said Bartlett. “They did an amazing job, and we want to learn from what they wrote. They’ve reminded us what integrity means.”of wisdom define integrity for adults