The Hill School’s annual Honor Awareness Week, Jan. 10-17, 2014, included a series of events focused on “Integrity,” also The Hill’s academic theme for the year. To kick off this community event, the School welcomed Dr. David Gruder, a psychologist and founder of “Integrity Revolution” to address the student body and faculty and meet with classes.

Dr. Gruder noted that he was pleased to see the “Core Tenets of The Hill School” that are published on Hill’s website and elsewhere, as those well-articulated descriptions all coincidentally fall within what he calls the three traits of truly happy people — and people who live with integrity. Those Core Tenets involve community, academic excellence, meaningful and balanced structure, principles, and history and traditions. The Hill’s Core Tenets, Dr. Gruder explained, are good examples of what individuals should do to live with authenticity, with a sense of being bonded or connected to others, and with a desire to feel useful and to make a positive impact on the world.

“Your school has put out a set of qualities and values” that clearly lead to demonstrating integrity, he said.

During Honor Awareness week, faculty will lead discussions on various designated topics during seated lunches, and each day a quotation related to honor will be read by various members of the Honor Council.

The Honor Council also will lead a program related to the all-school read for the year, “The Palace Thief,” by Ethan Canin, and discuss clips from the film “The Emperor’s Club,” based on “The Palace Thief.” Students will discuss the various factors that caused characters in the movie and text to veer from a life led by integrity.

As noted in the Core Tenets of The Hill School, “At The Hill, character is not so much taught as subtly lived, as represented in the School’s revered motto, “Whatsoever things are true,” from Philippians 4:8.