Dr. Miguel A. Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education, and Scarlett Lewis, founder of the Choose Love Movement, recently met to discuss the health, safety, and well-being of children. Dr. Cardona has stated that mental health and social emotional learning are priorities for our nation’s schools.
Video of their meeting is available on The Choose Love Movement’s YouTube channel.
Since her son, Jesse, was killed ten years ago at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Lewis has become a leading figure in national efforts to reduce violence. Her non-profit organization provides character social emotional development programs for schools to use. Choose Love programs have reached over 3 million students and Lewis hopes to reach millions more in the next year. Lewis first met Dr. Cardona in 2020 while he was principal at a school in Meriden, CT, celebrating Choose Love Day.
Choose Love For Schools provides character social emotional development programs to schools. The Choose Love Formula is transforming school culture and creating safer and more peaceful schools, homes and communities. It has grown organically, one person at a time over the last ten years, and now reaches 3.5 million children and adults in over 120 countries. Scarlett Lewis’ vision is to reach and positively impact 25 million people by 2025.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to meet with Dr. Cardona,” said Scarlett. “As multiple studies have shown, today’s children have higher incidences of depression, anxiety, and difficulties in self-regulation and anger management. Choose Love helps students through courage, forgiveness, gratitude, and compassion-in action, which are critical to children’s well-being, and helps them flourish.”
About Dr. Miguel A. Cardona
Dr. Miguel A. Cardona became the 12th U.S. Secretary of Education after a distinguished career as an elementary school teacher, principal, district administrator, and Connecticut education commissioner. He is a firm believer that being an educator isn’t just a job – it’s an extension of your life’s purpose.
Secretary Cardona’s focus throughout his career on raising the bar for equity and excellence for all learners guides his leadership of the agency in service of the nation’s 65 million students and families. He oversaw efforts to safely reopen schools for in-person learning, going from only 46% of schools open when President Biden took office to nearly 100% open just nine months later, while distributing historic federal education funding for K-12 schools and colleges, and working to draft and implement President Biden’s historic plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for working and middle-income borrowers. Across all of these priorities, Secretary Cardona has highlighted the urgency of seizing the moment through intentional collaboration – and the opportunity we have not only to recover from the pandemic, but to reimagine a more equitable education system that works better for all. He and his wife Marissa are proud parents of one student in public high school and another in college.
