Middle School Character Program Featured at Oxford Conference

Hawken Middle School Co-Director Jen Halliday and 8th Grade Humanities Teacher and Student Life Coordinator Megan Saxelby traveled to England in early January to present their paper "Using Culture as a Teaching Tool for Character Development," based on Hawken Middle School's program "What Films Can Teach Us About Character."

After two days with Hawken's international partner school in London, the pair traveled to Oxford to present a paper at an international conference supported by the Jubliee Center at Birmingham University, one of the largest centers for research on character education in the world.

"It was my first time presenting at Oxford in front of some of the pre-eminent educators and teachers from around the world," said Ms. Halliday in an article for the Chagrin Valley Times. "It was a fantastic experience."

Hawken Middle School received a “Promising Practices” award from the Character Education Partnership in December.  Every year the national “coalition of organizations and individuals committed to fostering effective character education,” recognizes U.S. schools and educators who have “implemented unique, specific, and effective character education strategies” in their school communities.