On September 10, Chris Draft travelled to House Springs, Missouri to join 400 students from Cedar Springs Elementary School and representatives from the U. S. Department of Education to honor the Missouri American Start of Teaching.  As part of the U.S. Departments of Education’s Teacher-to-Teacher initiative, which includes regional and district workshops, roundtables for teachers and principals, regular e-mail updates, and digital learning, Chris, along with U.S. Representative Russ Carnahan, Charles Nicastro, St. Louis Area Supervisor for the Missouri State Department of Education and the administrative staff of Cedar Springs Elementary School joined together at a surprise assembly to surprise Ms. Cathy Wittrock with the honor.

The assembly honored Ms. Witrrock’s achievement, described by the U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings as a combination of “a passion for teaching with high expectations that every child can learn.”  Chris Draft joined the assembly at the request of the Department, and represented both the Chris Draft Family Foundation and the St. Louis Rams’ commitment to supporting character education and individuals and teachers committed to closing the achievement for all students. 

Cathy Wittrock uses inquiry based learning to teach science and has trained other teachers in her district and state.  She also focuses on character education with her students to create a positive classroom environment.  Wittrock and her students develop class rules and a motto and she uses props such as puppets, music and role-playing to help make learning real for her students.  She also co-sponsors the Science Club, which helps students conduct experiments, as well as takes field trips and prepares students for the Science Fair.

Students were excited to meet Chris, who spoke to them about working hard, studying and being ready to contribute to society as productive citizens, even as elementary school students.  He led an exercise during the assembly around the Chris Draft Family Foundation’s fundamental character traits that represent the Character Team™.  He explained that he and his teammates also follow the principles of these traits, stating that the same traits that help build good young men and women also sustain the character of the men on his team, discussing how the team will “persevere” through their poor start to their season. 

“Even if you get beat 38-3, or something like that, you don’t give up!” he said.

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