Congressional Medal of Honor Society
Press Releases
Medal of Honor Recipient Helps Bring Character Curriculum to Kansas City Educators
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Medal of Honor Recipient Harold “Hal” A. Fritz met with Kansas City-area educators today at the Kansas City Marriott in Overland Park to talk about the topic of “character,” and to help introduce them to the Medal of Honor Character Development Program.
Offered by the membership organization of all 66 living Medal of Honor Recipients—the Congressional Medal of Honor Society—the free Character Development Program curriculum teaches elementary and secondary school students about courage, commitment, integrity, sacrifice, citizenship, and patriotism through educationally-grounded lessons developed by teachers for teachers. Training sessions are held throughout the country and virtually.
The Program offers 80 lessons featuring extraordinary military and civilian stories that provide students examples by which to live and is designed to be used as a part of schools’ social emotional learning (SEL) curriculums.
Teachers from schools in Lee’s Summit, Bolivar, Blue Valley, Beloit and others participated in the full-day session, which included a Q&A with Recipient Fritz after which they were provided with the resources to implement the program in their schools.
Fritz addressed the teachers and said, “We want to give everyone the opportunity to be exposed to the Character Development Program because of the positive nature and its potential to help teachers turn the lessons into teaching opportunities for their students who can apply the lessons to everyday life–teaching them to not be afraid of challenges and to take them on. I can’t say enough about the program–it’s the right tool at the right time for the right audience.”
Funded by The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, this training is part of a six-year $3 million grant which seeks to expand the Medal of Honor Character Development Program to 12 states through in-person trainings and the creation of an interactive online training to ensure availability to all educators, while strengthening the program through an enhanced evaluation system and teacher support.
The program and its materials are offered free to teachers and schools. Another training is scheduled for June 15, 2022, in Wichita, Kansas. Other upcoming in-person trainings will take place in Tennessee, Illinois, Wisconsin and Kansas. Virtual training is also available. For more information, visit CMOHS.ORG.
About the Congressional Medal of Honor Society
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Medal of Honor and its Recipients, inspiring Americans, and supporting the Recipients as they connect with communities across the country. Chartered by Congress in 1958, its membership consists exclusively of those individuals who have received the Medal of Honor. There are 66 living Recipients.
The Society carries out its mission through outreach, education and preservation programs, including the Medal of Honor Museum, Congressional Medal of Honor Outreach Programs, the Congressional Medal of Honor Character Development Program, and the Congressional Medal of Honor Citizen Honors Awards for Valor and Service. The Society’s programs and operations are funded by donations.
As part of Public Law 106-83, the Medal of the Honor Memorial Act, the Medal of Honor Museum, which is co-located with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s headquarters on board the U.S.S. Yorktown at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, was designated as one of three national Medal of Honor sites.
Learn more about the Medal of Honor and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s initiatives at https://www.cmohs.org.