Integrity elevates ordinary people and turns them into the heroes and leaders who have built our country and propelled it forward. But it can feel like an impossible feat to compete with the fast-paced world and endless barrage of distractions bombarding students every day to instill these traits. You and your students deserve lessons about integrity that cut through the static and truly resonate. That’s why, at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society (CMOHS), we are thrilled to offer middle and high school teachers like you the PATH TO HONOR student portal. 

In this student portal, students hear first-hand accounts of incredible displays of integrity in the face of impossible odds from those who embody it – Medal of Honor Recipients. FREE, easy-to-use, and engaging, these video history lessons will inspire students to develop the core values that define the Medal of Honor. Discover how your students can learn how integrity can change lives and shape the world through first-hand accounts from recipients.  

Why Are Lessons About Integrity Important to Teach Middle & High School Students?

Providing your middle and high school students with lessons about integrity is absolutely essential. By instilling these values, you shape them into honest, respectful, and fair citizens, help them build trust and confidence, and lay the foundation for ethical behavior. 

By helping students learn the importance of integrity and develop this trait, you provide a catalyst that propels them forward, helps them build trust, establishes credibility, and creates strong connections. As a result, you’re forging the heroes our communities and nation deserve.

Providing character development lessons about integrity benefits students in several ways:

• Character Development: Integrity is a fundamental building block of strong character. It fosters honesty, trustworthiness, and ethical behavior.
• Future Success: Students with integrity are more likely to succeed in their academic and professional pursuits, and people will value them more because they are loyal, honest, reliable, and ethical.
• Positive Relationships: Integrity will help build strong and healthy relationships with peers, teachers, and family members. 
• Leadership Development: Integrity is a fundamental trait for influential leaders. Teaching students integrity gives them the power to inspire trust and confidence in others.
• Moral Compass: Integrity provides students with an invaluable moral compass to guide their decisions and actions.
• Community Impact: Students with integrity contribute more positively to communities and society. 

By teaching integrity, you help create responsible and ethical citizens and forge the next generation of leaders. Character development is an essential component of the quality of education. The PATH TO HONOR student portal is an invaluable resource for teachers and parents to use captivating lessons about integrity that catalyze growth and character development.

Through riveting first-hand accounts from Medal of Honor Recipients themselves, students will witness unbelievable acts of heroism that teach the meaning of integrity and its power to change the world and transform lives. So, without further ado, let’s dive in!

Related Article: Why Is History Important for Students? The Foundation for Future Leaders

PATH TO HONOR: Free, Engaging Lessons About Integrity

In these engaging and innovative lessons about integrity, students will encounter situations when veterans decide to do the right thing, even when doing the right thing seems impossible. Learn more about the lessons that will inspire a change in your students. 

Related Article: Path to Honor: FREE Homeschool Lessons for High School

Lieutenant Colonel Joe Jackson, Vietnam War Veteran

This installment of the several lessons about integrity PATH TO HONOR offers is about Lieutenant Colonel Joe Jackson, who was making a routine delivery when he received a special assignment. 

Jackson provides a first-hand account and explains that the Special Forces camp at Kham Duc was being overrun by a superior North Vietnamese force. Three soldiers were stranded and hiding from enemy fire. Several planes had already attempted to rescue them but had been attacked. 

The command post called and asked if anyone nearby could go in and take out the attackers. Jackson was close but was in a C-123 plane, a slow aircraft designed to carry cargo. At this point in the lesson, students will receive a prompt that makes them reflect on Jackson’s dilemma. 

Would they call for another rescue mission while returning to base and relay the position of stranded soldiers? Would they continue to circle the soldiers until rescue arrived? Or would they attempt to land in the face of fire to rescue the soldiers? 

After they answer this question and reflect on how they would react, students will see how other students responded and continue through Jackson’s incredible story. At this stage of this lesson, Jackson explains that they were the only people nearby who could help. 

Jackson called and said he was going in despite oncoming storms and hazardous landing conditions. He was able to land opposite the three stranded soldiers in the ditch. But his luck didn’t stop there. When a rocket landed right in front of the aircraft, it didn’t go off. 

Jackson managed to gather the soldiers and get the lumbering plane up undamaged, returning them to safety and saving their lives. For this act of integrity, Jackson won the Medal of Honor.

“One of the things that was taught to me by my mother and the minister was that, regardless, you always do the right thing,” Lieutenant Colonel Joe Jackson said as he reflected on this moment with a smile, “How can you tell what the right thing is? Of all the options you have available, if you select the one you would most not like to do, that’s probably the right thing to do.” 

After finishing this engaging video and meditating on how they would respond, students will receive a prompt for a written self-exploration exercise as they consider what he was thinking to make this choice despite the odds being stacked against him, sparking a riveting discussion. 

Related Article: Path to Honor: Free Leadership Video Lessons for Teachers & Parents

Captain Humbert Roque “Rocky” Versace, Vietnam War Veteran

The next module of these lessons about integrity revolves around another Vietnam War veteran – Captain Humbert Roque “Rocky” Versace. In 1963, Rocky was mere weeks away from the end of his tour in Vietnam when U.S. troops clashed with the Viet Cong near the U Minh Forest. 

The Viet Cong took Rocky and two other Americans prisoner. One of his fellow prisoners, Colonel James “Nick” Rowe, recounts their experience as prisoners. Rocky was in one, and the other two were in a separate cage. 

Rocky could easily provide the enemy with valuable information as an intelligence officer who spoke French, Vietnamese, and English. But that was if they could make him talk. He refused to give up information, so they punished him extra harshly. 

At this stage of the lesson, students will be prompted with a question that makes them question what they would do in that situation. If they faced singularly cruel punishment, would they give up the information the enemy wanted? Would they give false information to end the torture? Or would they refuse to reveal any information, regardless of the potential consequences?

After answering these questions and seeing what other students answered, students will learn more about Rocky’s story. No matter what torture the enemy inflicted on Rocky, he held fast to the Army code of conduct, which required him not to give up any information that could hurt the U.S.A. 

He was isolated in a bamboo cage, bound in shackles, beaten, and starved for nearly two years, but his dedication to his nation was unwavering as he refused to tell his captors anything other than his name, rank, serial number, and date of birth. 

He also demanded that his fellow prisoners receive better food, shelter, and medical care. In the end, he was tortured more, and ultimately executed. He was eventually awarded the Medal of Honor for his unbreakable will and incredible display of integrity.

At the end of the video, the portal will prompt students with a self-exploration exercise. This exercise will prompt them to reflect on Rocky’s commitment to his values despite intense personal pain and write about what gave him this strength, sparking a scintillating discussion.

Related Article: Unleash the Heroes Within: Path to Honor Provides Free, Self-Guided Video Assignments for Students

Staff Sergeant Edward Carter, World War II Veteran

The final installment of the lessons about integrity offered by PATH TO HONOR centers on Staff Sergeant Edward Carter, a World War II veteran who served in an all-black truck company. 

Carter repeatedly asked to join combat, but the military was segregated, and African Americans were not allowed to fight. They could only provide support. However, in 1945, that changed. The Battle of the Bulge took a heavy toll on US troops, and the military needed replacements.

The military turned to its African-American soldiers, and Carter finally had his chance to fight for his nation. One day, Carter and his unit were traveling across an open field in Germany when they came under intense fire. 

Many, including Carter, were hit. But Carter charged toward his attackers and saw eight German soldiers heading toward him. At this point in the video, the portal will prompt students to put themselves in Sergeant Carter’s shoes. 

Seriously wounded and facing several enemy fighters, would they retreat to their unit to report enemy positions and receive medical treatment, surrender in hopes of enemy sympathy, or proceed and complete their mission despite their wounds and being outnumbered? 

After answering and seeing what other students answered, students will continue to hear about Carter’s unbelievable story. Despite his wounds, he single-handedly killed 6 enemy troops, captured the remaining 2, and returned them to his American comrades. 

30 years after this moment, President Bill Clinton presented the Medal of Honor to seven African American veterans of World War II, including Carter, whose son accepted on his behalf.

“A soldier who receives the Medal of Honor usually needs no further description,” Bill Clinton said at the podium during the ceremony. “But we must remember something else here today. These heroes distinguish themselves in another, almost unique way, and the tradition of African Americans who have fought for our nation as far back as Bunker Hill. They were prepared to sacrifice everything for freedom even though freedom’s fullness was denied them.”  

After the moving speech, the student portal will prompt students with a written self-exploration exercise in which they reflect on Carter’s determination to send his team to safety, complete the mission alone, and avoid capture despite heavy wounds and against overwhelming odds.

Ultimately, this will encourage a profound discussion among students and catalyze character development. 

Assign FREE, Engaging Video Lessons About Integrity and More. Register for Path to Honor Today!

Supplying your students with lessons about integrity is critical to providing them with the education they deserve, forging the heroes our country and communities deserve, and helping students achieve their full potential. If you want a way to develop this crucial value in your students that will captivate and resonate with them, the PATH TO HONOR student portal is a great option. This FREE resource is brimming with easy-to-use, inspiring, and interactive lessons that instill the values that built our country and define Medal of Honor recipients. 

Visit our PATH TO HONOR page to learn more about this program to forge the heroes our country and communities deserve.