Character Roundtable
Voyageur Outward Bound
October 22, 2025
Opening Quotes
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Dr
Martin Luther King, Jr
“I have my own strengths and skills, and so do other people. We’re in this together. We can help each other. Outward Bound was a miraculous experience. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I will continue to use what I’ve learned for the rest of my life.”
2025 Character Expedition Alum
Welcome
Thanks for making time today to explore character for young people! (3m)
Marlais Brand, Voyageur Outward Bound (with Susan Farrell & Elise Gumm)
Tom Bear, Character Focus Initiative
Jake Plantz, Enrollment Management Association
Today’s Roundtable is a chance to
• Meet Character Cohort collaborators
• Meet 2025 Character Cohort Partners & Students
• Recap 2025 Character Cohort pilot
• Hear from Character Expedition students
• Look ahead to 2026 Character Cohort
• Ask questions
Character Collaborators
Introducing Character Collaborators (Tom) (10m)
Collaborators: name, role & why you care about character
Higher Ed & Character Advocacy—David Hawkins, National Association for College Admission Counselling
Character Research & Advocacy—Trisha Ross Anderson, Harvard Graduate School, Making Caring Common
Character Research—Nathan Kuncel, University of Minnesota
Character Research—Keith Wright, Enrollment Management Association
Student & School Success—Ann Duffy, Education First
Character Development—Ginger Naylor, Outward Bound USA
Character Development—Katie Dalbey, Outward Bound USA
Character Development—Jack Lee, Voyageur Outward Bound
*After introducing yourself, please pop a personal strength or skill in the chat
Character Partners & Students
Introducing participating high schools, nonprofits & alums (Marlais) (10m)
Partners: name & role, Why does character matter in your learning community?
Students: name & grade, What strength or skill comes in handy right now?
Blake School—Chloe Rizzo, Maren Anderson, Vince Donahoe & Students
Culver Academies—Dave Bonner, Karen Standfast, Dan Cowell & Students
Girls Inc—Lisa Ghartey Ogundimu, Symeon Braxton & Students
Hawthorne Valley—Yuuki Metraud & Students
Houston LEAD + Discover Us—Dejon Hawthorne, Ashley Willett & Students
Open World Learning—Dave Gundale & Students
Upward Bound University of Minnesota—Zoila Ganuza Hoaglund & Students
Valley Forge Military Academy—Katie Newsom, Aaron Barkley & Students
*After introducing yourself, please pop a personal strength/skill in chat
Why Collaborate?
Because character matters (Marlais) (3m)
• Positive character skill development = resilience
• People are more likely to thrive-- embracing opportunity and coping with challenge-when they practice social-emotional skills and develop positive character traits
• Character can increase our lifespans (Dr. Nathan Kuncel)
• And make a big difference in our sense of belonging and purpose (Dr. Angela Duckworth)
Collaborating across high school, higher ed, youth dev & research to
• Support student character development
• Investigate how character is developed and measure it
• Find common ground in character recognition
• Share best practices in identifying character strengths
• Advance character development and recognition in college readiness, access and success
How We Got To Now
A Short History (Tom) (5m) (12:30)
• 2024, NACAC, Character Focus Initiative, Making Caring Common & Outward Bound publish & present together—call for character collaboration across higher ed, high schools & youth development
• NACAC, Character Focus Initiative and EMA answer the call & begin investigating collaboration
• In 2025, EMA steps up as a character research partner, offering to experiment with a pre & post character survey, based on EMA’s Character Skills Snapshot
• Voyageur Outward Bound recruits high schools & nonprofits to participate in a 2025 Character programming and research, students are enrolled in Character Expeditions… surveying begins
2025 Character Cohort Details
So here we are—starting to investigate, elevate & advance (Marlais) (3m)
• role of character in learning communities
• role of character in student readiness, access & success
2025 8 Day Outward Bound Character Expedition
• Outward Bound Domains of Thriving
• 10 crews, 66 students, 519 student program days
• Pre & post survey (based on Character Skills Snapshot) + student interviews
• Outward Bound character certificate & recommendation
• Video & TBD publication
• Roundtable
EMA Survey & Research
A word about EMA survey & research (Jake) (2m)
Why embark on the research?
• What EMA does, and our role in education and character Why EMA is interested in measuring character
• Why CFI is interested in measuring character
• Why Outward Bound is interested in measuring character Initiative resilience teamwork self-control intellectual engagement open-mindedness
2025 EMA survey
• Basic structure, process & early findings
• Lessons
• Moving forward
EMA Research Methods
• Character Skills Snapshot
• OBOS
Pre-Test
• Eight-day outdoor expedition VOBS Course
• Character Skills Snapshot
• OBOS
Post-Test
6-Week
Follow-Up
• Character Skills Snapshot
• Descriptive Statistics
• T-Tests
Analysis
• Report of findings Reporting
• Fulldocumentation of methods
EMA Early Findings
Findings (Jake) (2m)
We saw increases to four out of six skill preferences on the Snapshot:
• Intellectual Engagement
• Resilience
• Self-Control
• Teamwork
There were decreases to two:
• Initiative
• Open-mindedness
EMA Early Findings
A first look (Jake) (2m)
The number of students who completed the course is still relatively small.
There is still much to do before we can come to a firm conclusion on how character skill preferences are being impacted.
Lessons & Future
What we learned & where we are headed (Jake) (3m) (12:55)
• This first course helped us develop the methodology for future courses
• We now have a standardized procedure to streamline the research
• We also found early support for the efficacy of the VOBS course
• We will be communicating the results through a research brief we send to our partners and in a publication with NACAC.
Questions?
2025 Character Video
2025 Character Interviews
Emerging interview themes >>> resilience, teamwork & open-mindedness (Susan) (1:00)
2025 Student Perspectives
Question For Students (Susan) (7-10m)
Think about one particular strength or skill you had to use on your Character Expedition.
What is that strength or skill?
When do you use it in your life today?
2025 Partner Perspectives
Question For Partners (Marlais) (7m)
As you look ahead, what skills do you most want to help your students build?
Let’s Go! What’s Next?
2025 Character Cohort (Marlais, Tom, Jake) (3m)
Continue interviewing 2025 students
Integrate interviews into survey results
Share back 2025 survey takeaways in early 2026
Publish follow-up in David Holmes Series with NACAC, early 2026
2026 Character Cohort (Marlais, Tom, Jake)
Reach more students
Expand Character Expeditions-- 5 new partners
Expand Research-- more students = more data
Secure returning & new 2026 Character Cohort partners, Dec 2025
Present & publish together
Produce another video
Join The Crew In 2026
Continue advancing character with us! (Susan) (1m) (1:25)
We will send meeting recording, powerpoint, videos & our 2026 Character Cohort info sheet to all attendees
To join the 2026 Cohort, reach out to, Susan Farrell: susan.farrell@vobs.org QR Code for 2026 Character Cohort webpage ⟶
Thank You
A big thank you to all 2025 Character Cohort partners and students!
Gratitude to Tom, David, Jake & Trisha for sharing their energy and expertise.
And another big thank you to EMA, NACAC and Outward Bound USA for showing up for young people today, and every day.
We are excited to keep advancing character together!
Character Cohort Testimonials
From Valley Forge Military Academy:
“What we hoped would happen, happened. The cadets shared character building experience and bonded. When I met them course, their confidence and camaraderie were palpable. They own potential. They can see their own abilities, and recognize
Character Cohort Testimonials
From Culver Academies:
“What an incredible week! As a teacher at a leadership school, it was great to see students be able to reinforce and put into practice the theories of leadership we teach. It was especially great to see how the program empowered our female students. As an educator, I also learned some valuable tools to put in my own toolbox. Overall “A” for the program!”
From Girls Inc Chicago:
“Thank you so much for the Outward Bound opportunity… an unforgettable experience —pushing boundaries, building confidence, and developing important leadership and teamwork skills. Your team’s thoughtful planning, expert guidance, and dedication throughout the trip made a tremendous difference. Thank you for creating such a safe, empowering, and memorable adventure. We’re truly grateful for your partnership and look forward to future collaborations.”