Sandy Hook Mom to Speak on Teaching Educators and Students to Choose Love

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Scarlett Lewis

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Scarlett Lewis, founder of the Choose Love Movement and a related pre-K-12 curriculum, will give a free public lecture at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12. Lewis' young son Jesse was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting nearly six years ago in Newtown, Connecticut.

This is the annual fall lecture presented by the University of Arkansas Department of Curriculum and Instruction.

Monday's program is free and open to the public, with a reception from 4:45-5:30 p.m., immediately followed by the lecture and discussion, ending at 7. It will be held at the Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Sciences, 1371 W. Altheimer Drive in Fayetteville. Free parking is available.

The Choose Love social and emotional curriculum teaches educators and their students how to become connected, resilient and empowered while creating safer, more peaceful and loving schools. The evidence-based program is offered free of charge through the Choose Love program's website.

Lewis founded the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement after her 6-year-old was murdered in his first-grade classroom on Dec. 14, 2012. Jesse reportedly shouted at his classmates to run for safety, and several did. In all 20 children and six adult staff members were slain at the school by 20-year-old Adam Lanza.

Over the past five years, Scarlett Lewis has traveled worldwide on behalf of her program, writings and the curriculum. The program focuses on the character values of courage, gratitude, forgiveness and compassion in action, which cultivate optimism, resilience and personal responsibility. Included elements are positive psychology, mindfulness, neuroscience and character values.

For more information, contact Haley Carney, 479-575-7244, hshimer@uark.edu, of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.