Frank Chen

Akhil Nadithe, at the podium, and Annabelle Lang, by the whiteboard, introduce the program to newer members. Nineteen students attended the meeting, the highest turnout in years.

Character Cadre hosted its first meeting of the semester Tuesday, Sept. 5 in Room 2328. A club dedicated to acts of kindness and public service, Character Cadre has been around for several years. 

“One of the main goals is to promote positive character around the school,” teacher Elise Dale said, the club’s sponsor. 

Character Cadre does many different activities to achieve this. For example, they put character quotes and actions on the daily announcements to remind students to have a positive mindset for the day. They also work with nonprofit organizations to organize food drives, blanket drives and fundraisers for people in need.

“Last year, or the year before, we did a refugee event where we put together backpacks for people who had just arrived from Afghanistan, full of all the supplies that they needed,” Dale said. “The goal is to get our kids here at Ladue involved in helping other people, whether it’s people from inside our district or outside, just to build positive character within themselves.”

According to Akhil Nadithe, one of the club’s leaders, Character Cadre will look a little different this year. 

“For Character Cadre this year, I plan to make sure we have more character service projects, and the way I plan to do this is by splitting up Character Cadre into four main character projects,” Nadithe said.

First, there will be Winter and Warmth, where the club will raise donations for warm winter clothes such as scarves and jackets. After that, they plan to work with FemCo to sell candies and roses during Valentine’s Day to raise funds for domestic violence shelters. Character Cadre also intends to work with SAGE to plant trees and promote sustainable environmental practices in the Ladue community and organize a Health and Wellness Fair with Doctors without Borders, HOSA, BJC and other medical organizations.

“Freshman year, I was a nervous freshman, shaking in my figurative boots, and I signed up for 15 different clubs,” Nadithe said. “This club stood out to me the most because I realized that I could actually make an impact. [Character Cadre] lets you retrieve that little piece of humanity that’s left in you to give back to the community, and I find that is the most important thing any human can do for the planet or anyone in general.”