MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. — The Congressional Medal of Honor Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Medal of Honor and supporting Recipients of the Medal, has launched ” Path to Honor,” a free platform designed for middle and high school students. Path to Honor provides first-person views of historical and heroic actions by Medal of Honor Recipients. Path to Honor offers rich storytelling content in a short digestible digital format for students’ self-exploration of the Medal of Honor values.
“The choices we make during life-altering moments have a significant influence upon our character,” said Medal of Honor Recipient James McCloughan. “With Path to Honor, students can explore real stories and make connections to many aspects of their everyday lives. It’s an important initiative because heroism isn’t reserved for a select few – it’s cultivated within the hearts and minds of our next generation.”
The self-directed resource is broken down into six core values, each containing three stories from Medal of Honor Recipients:
- Courage: Can you be scared and show courage at the same time? In these stories, students see courage in action.
- Sacrifice: Sacrifice is a personal action, and it may cost one everything. But it is always intended for a more important purpose.
- Patriotism: To many people, patriotism is red, white, and blue, parades, stars and stripes. It’s also hard decisions and overwhelming odds, usually far away from home.
- Citizenship: We are citizens in many places: home, school, city, country, on teams, and in classes. Active citizens participate in their communities.
- Integrity: Integrity is often described as doing the right thing. But what if you can’t tell what is the right thing? Or what if the right thing seems impossible?
- Commitment: Life is all about commitment, to self and others. Sometimes we get frustrated or scared and want to quit. Sometimes, quitting is not an option.
Backed by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s Character Development Program, which has trained over 19,000 teachers nationwide, Path to Honor is available as a standalone, self-directed resource for students appropriate for a variety of educational settings. It can also be implemented within class curriculum and overall character development – promoting a positive school culture, supporting social, emotional and behavioral learning goals, or integrating character education into relevant cross-curricular subjects like history, civics or ELA.
“Path to Honor is a powerful tool for a variety of learning environments, whether as part of social studies curriculum, provided as an extra-curricular activity or assigned for extra credit,” said Catherine Ehlers Metcalf, Senior Director of Education at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. “The platform draws young people into these real stories so they can see how situations escalate, and ultimately decide how they’d respond. Our goal is for students to exemplify values of strong character by reflecting on Medal of Honor stories and their personal experiences.”
To access the Path to Honor homepage, visit https://www.cmohs.org/path-to-honor/. To learn more about the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, visit https://www.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 (the United States’ highest award for military valor in action) and its Recipients, inspiring Americans to live the values the Medal represents, and supporting Recipients as they connect with communities across America. Chartered by Congress in 1958, the Society’s membership consists exclusively of those individuals who have received the Medal of Honor.
The Society carries out its mission through outreach, education, and preservation programs, including the Medal of Honor Character Development Program, Citizen Honors Awards, and The Medal of Honor Museum. 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.
The Society’s programs and operations are fully funded by generous donors. Learn more about the Medal of Honor and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s initiatives at cmohs.org.
