2026 Ethical Leadership: Empowering Education
When One Student Changes, How Does the Whole School Benefit?
October 8 & 9, 2026 • Vail Village, Colorado
Presented by Shoulder-to-Shoulder
An immersive professional development event for school leaders who want to turn a single student's transformation into lasting school culture.
Special Thanks to our Educator Program Sponsors
SESSIONS
Moral Examples from the Field
Real-world Ethical Leadership in Action
Hear directly from NGO partners whose work reflects compassion, moral imagination, and community-driven leadership in the face of climate change, systemic injustice, and local challenges.
Presented by:
Fernando Maldonado
Farmer and Educator
Puerto Rico
Christina Lehew
Executive Director Common Ground Relief New Orleans, LA
Dr. Karambu Ringera
Founder International Peace Initiatives Meru, Kenya
Homecoming
From Student Transformation to Student Leadership
A working session—not a presentation. Using real SStS experiences as the starting point, school leaders design practical systems that help returning students influence faculty, younger students, families, and the broader school community. Participants leave with an implementation plan tailored to their own school.
Presented by:
How to Extract More Value for Your School Community From SStS
Erika Twani & Dani Bedoni
Author, Becoming Einstein's Teacher & The Einstein Mindset; Master Coach, 30+ years in leadership development
Building an Ethics Center with Student Leadership
Embedding Ethics Into School Culture
Learn how Ransom Everglades built an ethics center with student leadership to infuse ethics into the campus ethos.
Presented by:
Dr. John King
Ransom Everglades School, Miami, Florida
Customizing SStS for Your School
Reinforcing Mission, Faculty, and Family Partnerships
Learn from schools that have customized SStS programs to reinforce mission, engage faculty, and deepen parent partnerships.
Presented by:
Elizabeth Miller
Head of School
The Children’s School
Atlanta, GA
Greg Chalfin
Head of School
Lake Hill Preparatory School
Dallas, TX
Applied Ethical Leadership Certificate Program
The Next Step, Led by Students
After a summer field study, what's next? Through Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder's Applied Ethical Leadership (AEL) certificate program, alumni turn what they learned in the field into a self-designed project back on their own campus — paired with a faculty advisor, guided by a one-page prospectus, and supported by a monthly cohort of AEL students from schools around the country. In this session, two students present their own AEL projects directly to educators, walking through what they built, what they learned, and how any school can put the same model to work. It's the clearest answer to the question every field study leaves behind: now what?
Evie Blan
SStS Alumna Fort Worth Country Day
Dallas, TX
Lia Padilla
SStS Alumna American School Foundation of Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Mexico