Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Thursday 12 November
12:45 PM - 1:30 PM
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.
Featuring
Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis
Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis began teaching first grade at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2007. In 2013, while on temporary leave from teaching, she founded Classes 4 Classes, an organisation whose mission is to teach children the power of kindness and compassion through their ability to create positive change for others. Kaitlin is the author of Choosing Hope, a memoir about the days and weeks that following the Sandy Hook tragedy.
Kaitlin has been honoured as a Glamour Magazine Woman of the Year, one of L'Oreal Paris Women of Worth, and in 2013, she attended the State of the Union address as a guest of First Lady Michelle Obama. That same year she received the Dedicated Teacher Award from The Chicago International Conference on Education.
She is a regular Huffington Post contributor, and has been featured in People, Marie Claire, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and and All You. Kaitlin currently speaks to School Boards, Administrators, Teachers and High School and College students across the United States and Canada as a keynote and commencement speaker.