By Mark Hyatt
“Wow.”
In one word, that really is how I would sum up my first National Forum as CEP’s President and CEO.
Of course, beforehand, I had thought that I was pretty motivated and deeply driven about CEP’s mission. But now that I have actually experienced this month’s 19th Annual Forum in D.C., well, “Wow.”
After four days of electric presentations, networking, brainstorming, meeting, greeting, and yes, even tweeting, I somehow now find myself more energized than ever about the urgent work that lies before us. And our first-ever International Summit, which took place the day before the start of the Forum, confirmed for me that we have potential partners all over the world.
Despite the cloud of Hurricane Sandy that hung over the Forum and even threatened its postponement, in the end it was the spirit of our Sandy that won the day. Indeed, this year’s Forum was CEP’s first without its late founder, Sandy McDonnell, who passed away last March. But his influence and inspiration nevertheless permeated virtually everything we did.
Incredibly, even with nearly 100 weather-related cancellations from New York and New Jersey –including our opening keynote speaker, Dr. Maurice Elias– overall conference attendance was still up nearly 35% from last year! All told, we drew more than 725 teachers, administrators, exhibitors, speakers and others, all of whom clearly share a deep and abiding passion for character education.
There were so many highlights that I really don’t know where to start, for fear of leaving out something or someone. Suffice to say that our featured keynote speakers, Paul Tough, Scott Taylor, Bertice Berry and American Patriot of Character Award winner Norman Augustine and Sandy Award winner Dr Jacques Benninga were all simply excellent. (NOTE: Most of their presentations can be viewed on our website.) And it was truly an honor to be able to recognize the important contributions of our National Schools of Character Award winners and to witness personally the joyful professionalism and respectful camaraderie that these wonderful educators share with each other, with their students and with like-minded colleagues from across the nation and around the globe.
If I had to pick one moment that sticks with me the most it may have been the simple acoustical guitar performance of folk legend Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary. Now in his 70s, the sole survivor of that historic trio more than a decade ago had co-founded the anti-bullying group Operation Respect with CEP board member Charlotte Frank Vice President of McGraw-Hill Education. At the conference, after urging the audience to gather as close to him as possible and to sing along, Yarrow taught all of us his poignant anthem “Don’t Laugh at Me”. Looking around, I could see board members, teachers, staff, folks young and old of widely differing political persuasions and world views, ALL singing the moving words, “Don’t laugh at me; Don’t call me names; Don’t get your pleasure from my pain; In God’s eyes, we’re all the same…”
Whew. It gives me chills again just reliving that moment.
On that note, from the bottom of my heart, I’d like to thank all of you –especially Becky Sipos and my tireless staff here at CEP– for making this conference truly memorable and for some, even life-changing. Right now, as tired as we all are, I can’t wait for next year’s Forum! But in the meantime, let’s all build some character!
