The CharacterStrong Podcast

George is an educator, non-profit leader, and public policy advocate who is committed to the academic, social, emotional, and physical development of our youth and their families. He started his service career as a teacher's aide and worked his way up to becoming a certified teacher in the state of Texas and the state of Mississippi. As an urban educator, seeing parents not armed with basic educat...

Maddie Bogart just finished her first year teaching third grade in Everett, Washington. Maddie has degrees in Elementary Education and Teaching English as a Second Language from Central Washington University. In 2017 she was selected as one of Good Housekeeping Magazine's "Everyday Heroes". She is currently working on her M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction and is an intern this summer at Character...

Dan Wolfe is going into his 23rd year as an educator in Pasco County, Florida. He is currently the Assistant Principal at Cotee River Elementary. Over his career Dan has held multiple roles as a K-5 teacher, Math Instructional Coach, District Curriculum Specialist K-12 and administrator. He is currently on our District's SEL committee which has written K-12 SEL standards for the county. Dan was se...

Jessica Zeller is an Associate Professor of Dance in the School for Classical & Contemporary Dance at Texas Christian University. She holds a Ph. D. in Dance Studies and an MFA in Dance from The Ohio State University, and she is the author of Shapes of American Ballet: Teachers and Training before Balanchine (Oxford University Press, 2016), which unearths the work of several European and Russian b...

CharacterStrong Co-Founders John Norlin & Houston Kraft make a special announcement about Houston's new book, Deep Kindness, and Houston shares a little of the heart behind it. Pre-order your copy here: https://deepkindness.com

Jasmyn Wright is the founder of the Push Through Organization and a former elementary school teacher. She began her teaching career at a Title 1 school in Memphis, Tennessee, as a member of Teach for America. More recently, she taught at a charter school in Wilmington, Delaware, and was chosen to be a Teachers for Global Classrooms Fellow. Visit the Push Through Organization at WePushThrough.org.

Tanner is a senior at the University of Iowa. Tanner is the Vice President of the nationally ranked Club Baseball Team on campus and is also the founder and co-owner of Iowa City Apparel, an apparel company based out of Iowa City. In 2019, Tanner interned for the World Series Champion Washington Nationals in Washington D.C and currently is working virtually for the 2020 New York Mets. Tanner's lif...

Jamie Brown is currently the Vice Principal at Holmdel High School, NJ. A proud NJ educator since 2001, Jamie's passion and dedication to both Character Education & Social-Emotional Learning helped develop the 1st District-Wide PEER Leadership Program in NJ Public Schools. Embracing a "Compassion over Curriculum" growth mindset, Jamie's approach to Whole Child Development & Future Readiness focuse...

Clementine Chamberlain is a graduate from Carmel High School in Carmel, CA and in her first year of college. She is a past president of Carmel High School's This Club Saves Lives and the creator of Tampon Tuesday. Clementine was a 2019 #ICANHELP Digital4Good award winner for her creation of Tampon Tuesday // While Tampon Tuesday collected thousands of menstrual products for people in need, it brou...

Jeff Berger-White teaches English at Deerfield High School, where he has been teaching his entire career. This is the end of his twenty-eighth year. Over that time period, he has taught all grades and all levels. He currently teaches Sophomore English, A.P. Literature and Composition, and Sophomore English Survey, a course for struggling readers. In 2007, Jeff was selected as one of Golden Apple's...

Meet Kelly Griffin! Most of her 500 students call her Miss G!! Miss G rocks the schoolhouse by teaching social-emotional and character development skills at an elementary school in San Diego. She has a master's degree in elementary education from Rockhurst University (back home in the Midwest) and a certification in Social-Emotional and Character Development from Rutger's University online program...

Dr. Lynass is the owner and Executive Director of Sound Supports whose mission is to support every student and very school through the use of a Multi-tiered framework. Dr. Lynass has over 22 years of experience in the field of education and has worked directly with over 100 schools, 1,000 districts and 4 state departments of education on their implementation of academic and behavioral systems. Pre...

Rachael Kettner is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher and has been teaching middle school Science for the majority of her 19 years in public schools in Arizona, Idaho and Washington State. She currently teaches 7th and 8th grade Science at Selkirk Middle School just outside of Spokane, WA.

Jacob D. LeBlanc, Ed. D. is the principal at Katy Junior High in Katy, Texas. He has been an educator for 29 years in the great state of Texas! His wife is an elementary school counselor. They have 3 adult children; an LSU Tiger son, a Notre Dame Fighting Irish son and a daughter with one more year as a UT Longhorn! Jacob has dedicated his life to serving others and created and Co-Moderates the Le...

We talk with Luis about the key to helping students move forward, the model that they have built on the Changemaker Campus, and he shares ways that we can intentionally put a focus on empathy & love. Luis Alberto Perales, M.S., is a native son of the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. He is the son of an immigrant mother and an 5th generation Tejano father. A transplant to Tucson, AZ and the Sonora...

Don Wettrick is the founder and president of StartEdUp, an organization dedicated to help transform the school culture toward innovation and enable student-led entrepreneurship. He is also the author of "Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation." Wettrick has worked as a middle school and high school teacher; educational and innovation consultant; CEO, and podcast host. Don has lectured acros...

In her 16 years in education, Morgan Castillo shares her hunger for lifelong learning among students of all ages and backgrounds with experience in primary and secondary levels. She also empowers educators to share their passions as in various leadership roles and as session presenter at regional conferences. Morgan continues her drive for inspiring others in Midway ISD where she teaches fifth gra...

CharacterStrong Co-Founders Houston Kraft & John Norlin get together and talk about the concept of the Law of the Lid, they remind us that as leaders we set the tone, and share that this takes vulnerability & practice.

Bill studied biology and philosophy at The University of Notre Dame and earned his Masters in Teaching at The Evergreen State College. He worked in adolescent group homes for several years before becoming a high school science teacher in Tumwater, Washington. In 2005, Bill transitioned to administration, first as an Associate Principal at Oak Harbor High School and then as Principal at North Whidb...

Andrea is a Seattle-area kindergarten teacher who keeps relationships and balance at the center of her practice. She believes, in order to show up and be the best teacher possible, you must intentionally work on the best version of yourself. Mindful check-ins with colleagues, intentional relationships with students, and a healthy life away from the classroom are all things that Andrea prioritizes...

Tamara Letter is a passionate educator with more than two decades of experience as an elementary teacher, differentiation specialist, technology integrator, and instructional coach. She received the 2018 R.E.B. Award for Teaching Excellence and is the author of A Passion for Kindness: Making the World a Better Place to Lead, Love, and Learn. You can connect with Tamara on her website at www.tamara...

As Co-Founder of Labhya Foundation, an India-based nonprofit, Richa's journey has revolved around the question, "What does it take to preserve empathy among children?" Richa has worked as an educator, volunteer, mentor & activist with children from at-risk, refugee & migrant communities across India. She has been a Teach For India fellow & a Teach For All Global Girls' Education fellow. At 21 year...

Leigh Kokenes is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist in Raleigh, North Carolina and works at an elementary and middle school in an urban school district. Her early career included work on a birth to age 3 early intervention team and later working with adults who are developmentally disabled. She then found her way to the field of School Psychology. Ms. Kokenes serves on her professional ass...

Amy Heimerl is a wife, mom, grandma, educator, gardener, aspiring artist & author, prayer warrior, worship leader and most importantly, daughter of God. Amy has been an educator for 26 years. Twenty-three of those years have been focused on working with students who have emotional and behavioral struggles and students who learn differently. From 1997-2004 she was a special education teacher at a j...

Sandi Pinner is a wife, mother of 4 boys, Nani of 2 and has been married to her husband for the past 26 years. Sandi has been in education since 1999 and currently is the Pre-K-12th Grade School Counselor in Chireno ISD a small 1A district in deep East Texas.