Friday August 20^th was graduation day for seventy some children ranging in age from 9 – 18 who completed the Happy House Good Choices Program through Migrant Workers Education run by the Los Angeles Unified School District. Their families and teachers joined them in celebrating this remarkable achievement.

The four week program started with a week at the San Fernando Elementary School and ended with three weeks of “field trips” to the Anson Ford Theatre in Hollywood, CA.  This remarkable venue was ideal for Carol Loweree, Happy House Good Choices Director, to impart the 21 chapters of the “How to Make Good Choices ™,” booklet.  Based on The Way to Happiness ®, which has over 90 million copied in circulation, the Good Choices program helps kids learn basic common sense values so they can make their own good choices.

“There is enough discipline and danger in their lives,” Mrs. Loweree said.  “We don’t tell them what to do.  We simply show them that there is a choice and they can make it.”

The Good Choices program was taught in a “round robin” with Freshi Filmworx. Freshi, the largest company teaching film techniques to children nationwide, specializes in teaching kids basic film making and video game design techniques. The students were split into three groups  based on age and each hour every morning they would go from one to the other, first learning Good Choices and then on to game design or filmmaking. 

Each child created their own video game either solo or with a team and the entire group created six short movies. These movies, all based on the chapters of the Good Choices Booklet, can be entered in the Movies with a Message contest sponsored by Good Choices and held during the International Family Film Festival in March of 2011.

Nancy Cartwright, founder of Happy House, had the great fun of visiting the students and presenting certificates of completion and some signed goodies.  “These kids are incredible,” said Nancy. “They have such great manners, are so creative and I can really see how much this means to them.”

For more information on the Good Choices Program go to www.goodchoicesprogram.org.