"Know Greater Heroes" A Program that Connects Service-Learning, Character Education and Leadership: A First Person Account

Throughout time and in every culture, heroes with character have been revered in tales, written about in literature, and looked to as role models. Never in the history of the world has there been a more profound need for heroes–men and women educated in integrity and empowered to tackle society’s most pressing issues in every community, home, school, and boardroom. This article describes a systematic collegiate program that the author developed that works with elementary schools to weave a curriculum of character development, leadership training, and service-learning addressing the need to help people become productive adults and answering the question: is it possible to create a comprehensive youth development program that can teach, train, and coach moral role models heroes, who can assist in the improvement of our world today and in the future? (authors)