Educators from Chile visited Bayless High School on Oct. 6 to learn more about becoming a “school of character” through CharacterPlus. Every Bayless school has earned the National School of Character recognition multiple times since 2009.

The Chilean group from Fundación Educacional Nocedal, a school near Santiago, Chile, visited to learn more about character education from Principal Eric Lawrence, Assistant Principal Alyssa Stock, Dean of Students Mike Will and Superintendent Amy Ruzicka.

“The visit also highlighted the philosophical foundation that drives our operations,” Lawrence stated in a news release. “We are grateful to our guests for their interest and shared commitment to fostering character and learning, and we appreciated the opportunity to exchange perspectives with colleagues from near and far.”

Bayless School District was named a National District of Character by CharacterPlus in 2016 and 2022. Those designations involve lengthy applications and site visits to see how schools integrate character education into the school experience.

“(Character education) is not something we do in addition to the work. It is how we do the work. It is embedded in how we teach, how we lead, how we build relationships and how we make decisions for students,” Ruzicka stated in a news release.