Steve Matthews speaks to the gathered students at Saturday's CharacterWorks even at CrossRoads Church.

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These 40 students were given medals for being honored as good citizens by their schools during the first semester of class this year.

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Approximately 175 people showed up Saturday to CrossRoads Church for the first “Citizens of Character” event held by the Logan County CharacterWorks program.

Of those in attendance, 40 students were recognized as being exemplary citizens of character.

“They were ranging from Kindergarten up through eighth grade,” said Lisa White, the assistant principal at the Russellville middle school and the director for Logan County CharacterWorks.

Students from both county schools and the Russellville Independent District attended the event, which included music by Trey Farlee as well as pizza and snacks.

Rob Johnson was the keynote speaker for the event.

“What was good about this event was the number of people there,” White said. “A lot of people are seeing the signs we have up around the county, but they didn’t totally understand the concept of CharacterWorks. I was able to talk about that before the program and about how we got started. Now they can take it to their families and their businesses and we’ll have several hundred that are exposed to it and understanding it.”

The program, which is designed to promote a different character trait each month, kicked off with a special even on the Russellville square in July.

This was the first event since the program began. A similar one will also be held in May for students who have been honored as having good character through the second semester of school.

“And then we’ll follow that up with another booster even in July on the square,” White said.