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Vestavia Hills Elementary Schools in Cahaba Heights and Dolly Ridge and Pizitz Middle School were named National Schools of Character for 2025.
Three Vestavia Hills City Schools are ending the year on a high note for their emphasis on character education and development.
Character.org, a national organization advocating for character education in schools, announced Thursday that Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights, Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge and Louis Pizitz Middle School are now 2025 National Schools of Character.
The three Vestavia Hills schools are among just 71 schools in the United States to receive the National School of Character designation this year.
Each of the National Schools of Character was chosen based on excellence in 11 principles of character education and development, including creating a caring community where everyone feels they belong, encouraging students to do the right thing for intrinsic reasons and embedding character into all aspects of school life. See all 11 principles here.
Cahaba Heights, Dolly Ridge and Pizitz have each focused for several years on development of core values which students and staff commit to living out, both inside and outside of school.
“This prestigious designation epitomizes the commitment in VHCS to partner with our families to instill core values of virtuous character into our next generation,” Superintendent Todd Freeman said in a news release.
Cahaba Heights, Dolly Ridge, and Pizitz join three other Vestavia Hills schools named National Schools of Character this decade: Vestavia Hills Elementary Liberty Park in 2024, Vestavia Hills Elementary East in 2022 and Vestavia Hills Elementary West in 2021. This is the second National School of Character award for Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights, which previously earned the designation in 2020.
