MCSD brings Medal of Honor lessons into classrooms

     There was no school on Feb. 3. Instead, teachers and staff from the Monticello Community School District (middle school and high school only) held a collaboration day at the Citizens State Bank Youth Development Center in Monticello.

     The theme was “character.” The program for the day, according to Monticello High School Intervention Specialist Todd Hospodarsky, “used Medal of Honor recipients to teach six different characteristics: courage, commitment, integrity, citizenship, sacrifice, and patriotism.”

     This particular training also involved a history of the Medal of Honor and how the Medal of Honor Foundation began.

     “The Foundation pays to bring actual teachers who are using the program in their classrooms to teach us,” explained Hospodarsky, “using some of the actual activities and lessons from the program.”

     The Medal of Honor Society, which is made up of only Medal of Honor recipients, began collecting the stories of these heroes and filming them. Each lesson presented to the Monticello teachers is accompanied by a short video of the Medal of Honor recipient telling their story.

     “As you can imagine, these stories are very moving,” expressed Hospodarsky. “They actually put boxes of Kleenex on each table for the training. And, there were tears that day.”

     The Society has created more than 150 videos for this training program, with plenty of lessons to be utilized.

     “The Foundation wanted to emphasize that this is not meant to be a recruiting tool for the military,” offered Hospodarsky, “or have any promotion of joining the military.

     “Members of the Society wanted to give back to the country they love so they started several years ago, giving out civilian medals of honor.”

     These particular recipients are everyday people of all ages that have done something above and beyond for their community or the world. There are several categories of winners. Hospodarsky explained the civilian honor is used to show students that anyone can be a hero; military service is not necessary.

     So how will the MCSD use the wealth of information they gained from the program in their classrooms?

     “The plan is to use this program to supplement the PBIS activities and lessons we are working on at all levels here in Monticello,” said Hospodarsky. He prefaced by saying the Medal of Honor curriculum is meant for middle and high school-aged students, not elementary.

     “One strength of this curriculum is that teachers can pick and choose among many different lessons,” added Hospodarsky. “The lessons can be adapted and changed for your specific students depending on their abilities and interests.” And, there is no right or wrong order to the lessons.

     To follow up, Hospodarsky said the middle and high school PBIS teams will meet soon to discuss how to best implement the Medal of Honor curriculum “without overlapping or repeating lessons on the same students.”