The Medal of Honor Character Development program teaches students about real heroes and the values of integrity, courage, commitment, sacrifice, citizenship and patriotism.
It’s being brought into schools across the country and recently gained stem in Texas. Local volunteer Charlotte Clifton says she hopes to see the program in local classes soon.
“They are always talking about service above self how can I help somebody else,” she said of the veterans and Medal of Honor recipients who came up with the program to inspire and invest in tomorrow leaders.
“The underlying premise of the whole program is that everybody can make good choices and really be a hero among the people that you are with,” she said.
Clifton says she’s passionate about getting this program in local schools.
“I’ve got two students that I taught during my career that both gave their life in service of our country,” Clifton says she volunteers as a way to honor those former students.
“We use so many higher level thinking skills with this program and teach the kids to think, they discover things,” she explained, “We’re double dipping because we’re also not only teaching them how to you know look for the main idea or cause and effect, they are also learning about some of our heroes and somebody they can really look up to.”
Real heroes like Medal of Honor recipient Hershel Williams, at last year’s Superbowl the World War II veteran was front and center for the coin toss. Days later he came to town for several events including a visit to Frenship as they hosted the Medal of Honor Character Development program.
“I know in school all across our country, you know we are looking for answers to how can we really meet the needs of the students, how can we really help them in struggles that they have with school violence. There are so many things going on and I certainly wouldn’t say its the one thing that can fix it all, but I really firmly believe this is a big piece of the puzzle,” Clifton said confidently.
The curriculum is free of charge to all schools, homeschools and community settings.
Click here to learn more about the program or contact Charlotte Clifton at Charlotte.Clifton@gmail.com.