Southeast Region Character Consortium
Alongside Character.org and Samford University Orlean Beeson School of Education, The Hope Institute proudly co-hosted a first-of-its-kind event for schools from Alabama, Florida, and Georgia to join together to network, learn from each other and share stories about their character journeys. Over 100 educators from across three states registered for the virtual meeting on November 6th called the Southeast Region Character Consortium (SRCC).
This opportunity to connect with schools in other states attracted regional K-12 schools that have received a Promising Practice, designation as a State or National School of Character and/or are interested in pursuing this type of recognition in the future.
Character.org leadership encouraged the idea to gather together in regional groups. The Schools of Character State Coordinators, Val Gallina in Florida, Pam Green in Georgia and Kara Chism in Alabama met via Zoom to run with this idea and discuss what they could do to bring it to life. Kara Chism says, “We wanted to network schools in other states, inspire schools, and share ideas. The idea for [this event] came out of a brainstorm session with the three states. We hope to offer additional virtual summits this academic school year on a variety of topics.”
The summit opened with greetings from Lori Soifer, Character.org Schools of Character Director and Character.org President Arthur Schwartz. Ben White from Cottondale Elementary represented Alabama schools by sharing excellent initiatives and practices. Speakers from Florida included Kelly McMillan and Valerie Dickson from Apollo Beach Elementary School and Sara Rubinstein and Krista Diamond from Carrollwood Day School who shared additional outstanding ideas with the group. Georgia educators Doug Knott, Stacy Campbell and Tiffany Wilson from Liberty Elementary School and Laura Mason from Rocky Branch Elementary School all gave advice and guidance on building and maintaining a strong character journey in schools. Liz Huntley, President of The Hope Institute, shared her inspirational life story as the keynote speaker.
As an aim of The Hope Institute is to participate in and help lead the regional, and potentially national, discussion on character education, we were proud to support SRCC in their inaugural event and look forward to continued collaboration to expand focus on character development in schools more effectively throughout the southeast.
“It was an absolute fabulous way to spend an afternoon,” said Kara Chism at the end of the event. Moving forward, the SRCC will continue as a new regional, three-state group affiliated with Character.org in Washington, D.C. with goals to elevate awareness, build school connections, networks, collaborate, validate and celebrate the hard work schools and districts put in to become Schools of Character. Visit their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/SoutheastRegionCharacter/