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10 Years after Sandy Hook, The Hochsprung Center at Russell Sage College’s Esteves School of Education Continues the Legacy of Beloved Principal
The Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung Center for the Promotion of Mental Health and School Safety has announced a five-part webinar series in partnership with health care professionals.
The series, which begins in January and runs through May 2023, will feature pairs of education and health care leaders discussing their collaborative efforts to support student mental health and safe schools.
Experts from Sage’s Esteves School of Education and School of Health Sciences, Albany Med Health Systems, Saratoga Hospital, Saratoga Community Health Center and school districts throughout New York state will share their experiences implementing multi-tiered mental health and social-emotional supports in elementary through higher education settings.
Visit the Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung Center for the Promotion of Mental Health and School Safety webpage for the full schedule.
Russell Sage College established the Hochsprung Center in 2013 in memory of the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, who died in a school shooting on Dec. 14, 2012. Hochsprung had been a doctoral candidate at Sage’s Esteves School of Education’s Educational Leadership program.
The Hochsprung Center works to raise awareness of student mental health, suicide prevention, trauma-sensitive schools and school safety through public lectures, professional development for educators, a doctoral research fellowship and collaborations.
“Dawn Hochsprung is an example of facing one’s fear in the ultimate circumstance, literally putting her life on the line to save her children,” said Associate Professor of Educational Leadership Janice White, Ed.D., who led Hochsprung’s first course at Sage. “Her actions on Dec. 14 speak to her commitment to lead with selfless courage. She travels with us in spirit through the Hochsprung Center.”
“Dawn Hochsprung was part of the Russell Sage College community, and we want her legacy to live on,” said Hochsprung Center Director and Assistant Professor Educational Leadership Jerome Steele, Ed.D., who met the Sandy Hook principal several times in fall 2012. “We work so that future generations of students and educators are not looking over their shoulders in fear.”