Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis: Courage in the Classroom

On December 14 2012, Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis, a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, was reading to her class of first-graders – when she heard the sound of gunshots and shattering glass.

Thinking quickly, Katilin managed to pile her 15 students into a single bathroom stall until the shooting stopped, protecting them from the gunman in one of the most chilling massacres in recent memory.

During those events and in the intervening years, Kaitlin has set an extraordinary example of courage and kindness in the classroom. She has founded a charity, Classes4Classes, a social network connecting students and teachers across the United States, that is grounded in the idea of ‘paying if forward’.

In this midday event at the Wheeler Centre, Kaitlin will talk about what teachers and students can learn from each other and share her insights on hope, resilience and generosity in the classroom.