Vitamins and nutrients probably weren't the first thing on most students' minds at Owasco Elementary School Tuesday afternoon, heading into the Thanksgiving break.

But the school and its students were treated to a dose of Vitamin L Tuesday morning.

Vitamin L is an Ithaca based singing group that is now in its 20th year of performing for children and schools throughout the central New York area.

The group was first created by songwriter Jan Nigro in 1989.

Nigro's wife, Janice, is director of the Vitamin L project.

Janice said that she and her husband, who had attended the High School of Music and Art in New York City, were approached by a friend who was also an elementary school teacher about creating some songs for students that would look at themes like respect and the importance of virtues like empathy and understanding.

Nigro recorded these songs on a 1989 tape called “Walk a Mile,” from there a successful music career based on these ideals of respect and character building was born.

The group, which performed at Genesee Elementary earlier in the week, has made many visits to the Auburn area over the years, garnering the interest of many of the students they have performed for.

Hunter Duger, 8, a third grader at Owasco Elementary, said that he remembered seeing the group a couple of years ago when he was in first grade.

“I really liked them,” Duger said. “And now I remember some of the songs, and we were all snapping and clapping and singing along.”

The group, which has been comprised of Nigro with a revolving line-up of singers ranging in age from as young as the fifth-grade to sophomores in college over the past 20 years, comprise what is known as the Vitamin L Chorus, which has built a strong following among school age children, parents and educators.

“We do 50 to 70 shows a year,” Janice said. “We go all around central New York and sometimes outside of the area. It has all been built by word of mouth. We perform and teachers and principals will talk about it and tell other teachers in other schools.”

The group also performs at other educational events, helping to draw attention to their prevailing message of the importance of instilling strong character traits from an early age.

“It is a very positive message,” Janice said. “We hope that these are all things that they can take and use in their lives.”

This idea fit in perfectly with the goals of Owasco Elementary.

School principal Mickie Post said that each month the school focuses in on an overall character trait, touching on ideas like sharing, tolerance and understanding, to help build strong character traits into students along with their regular curriculum.

Many of the songs the group performed Tuesday touched on these themes.

With songs like “Walk A Mile,” which talks about understanding whether it is in a one on one situation or on a much larger world scale, as well as pieces like “Get to Know You Better,” which talks about simply taking the time to get to know people and not judging them based on surface impressions, the Nigro's material ties in well with the school's goals of strong character development.

With the help of the schools' parent organizations and funding from the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust based in Syracuse, the school was able to have the group perform.

“This ties in well with the messages of our character education committee,” Post said. “The messages they are singing about apply to the character traits we have hanging up all over the school. I hope that our students can apply those and learn things like how to solve their problems by talking and to have empathy.”

The group's performance definitely hit home with many students.

One song in particular about making mistakes, with its mix of humor and honest commentary on the fact that indeed everyone makes mistakes, but can learn from that experience, hit home with Mason Miller.

“I liked the song about mistakes,” Miller, 8, said. “It was funny. But it was true, everyone does make mistakes.”

But whether it was the messages or the music or a bit of both, Vitamin L found an excited audience at Owasco Elementary.

“I liked it,” Chris Smith, 9, said. “I like the things they sing about and I think we can learn about things from their songs.”