By ANDREW WIND, Courier Staff Writer

WATERLOO --- Ashlyn Kullen was a pillar of Susan Johnson's fifth-grade class at Orange Elementary School, always assisting a struggling student or cheering up someone who was down.

"She's just right there ready to help without being asked," said Johnson, Kullen's teacher last year. "If you needed someone to depend on, it was just Ashlyn all the way through."

She said Kullen embodied the six pillars students learned about through Character Counts --- trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

It seems that Character Counts in Iowa agreed. Kullen will receive its statewide Citizen of Character award Saturday during a ceremony in West Des Moines.

Now a sixth-grader at Hoover Middle School, Kullen says she is excited about the honor.

"I can't really describe it, because not many kids will get this chance, and I'm so overwhelmed that my teachers thought of me like that," she said.

She is one of four people in different age categories who will receive the award. The 11-year-old is being honored in the 10- to 12-year-old category, which had nine nominees.

Two other recipients are from Northeast Iowa. Paul Hassman of New Hampton won in the adult category, and Michael Stevenson of Cresco, now a Wartburg College freshman, won in the 16- to 18-year-old category. The fourth recipient is Sam Sparland of Johnston in the 13- to 15-year-old category. Awards are also given to individuals and organizations in eight other categories.

Honorable mentions will also be awarded to Thomas Creeden of Cedar Falls, a Northern University High School student, as Citizen of Character and Waterloo's Hellman Associates as Business of Character. A volunteer selection committee of 50 people choose the winners.

"Obviously we talk a lot about the six pillars of character, but what we look for is a consistent demonstration of good character," said Amy Smit, the organization's communications director.

Johnson said Kullen stood out because she followed the Character Counts ideals without reminders, something other students needed.

"This is just really a feeling of all the specialists, as well," said Johnson, of the librarian and art, music, and physical education teachers who knew Kullen since kindergarten. "They just felt very strongly, as well, that she was deserving of this honor."

Kullen's family also deserves some of the credit for the good behavior Johnson saw in class.

Character Counts has "always been a huge thing at Orange, but my family and my church were a big part of it, too," said Kullen. Her parents are Tom and Lynne and she has three older brothers.

"She really is a person who has a strong faith and just lives her faith," added Johnson. "She believes she should help people and does."

That helping attitude comes through in a number of ways: volunteering at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank with her youth group, donating 14 inches of her hair to Locks of Love and regularly baby-sitting the children of a disabled family friend.

"Whenever anyone asks me to do something, it's very rare that I turn them down," said Kullen. That includes Johnson, even though Kullen has moved on to Hoover.

"As soon as she is dismissed on Wednesdays, she comes down and helps in my room," said Johnson, for the last 45 minutes of class. "She started just when she was getting out early to visit, because she just lives across the street (from Orange)."

"This year I have been tutoring a kid and just helping out with whatever she needs --- checking papers and things like that," said Kullen.

Johnson noted there is a lot to admire about her former student.

"She just really is a role model, even for adults," said Johnson. "I think if a lot of us could be like Ashlyn everything would be so much better."

Contact Andrew Wind at (319) 291-1507 or andrew.wind@wcfcourier.com.

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