'Happiness League' Honors Superhero Teachers

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., March 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new nationwide initiative, "The Happiness League," is honoring America's teachers for their heroic efforts equipping students with social and emotional wellness skills needed to persevere and succeed in life.

Launched by the Life's Good: Experience Happiness program on the U.N.'s International Day of Happiness (March 20), The Happiness League will recognize "Superhero Teachers" from across the country. These champions of social-emotional learning have gone above and beyond to support today's youth as the global pandemic, coupled with rising social and political discord, worsened a growing national mental health crisis.

America's youth face an exceptionally high risk, with 63 percent of young adults reporting symptoms of anxiety and depression, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.* "Last week marked one full year of social restrictions that have created a potentially dangerous tipping point for the mental health of America's youth," said Christine Ackerson, head of corporate social responsibility for LG Electronics USA, lead sponsor of the Experience Happiness program.

Over the past year, whether logging on to teach virtually or donning PPE in classrooms every day, teachers have had to reimagine how to engage their students and ensure safe and positive learning environments. Our teachers worked on the front lines and played a crucial role in maintaining consistency, normalcy and inspiration for America's children, Ackerson said. "They are truly superheroes providing our youth with the courage to endure and prosper, and deserve special recognition."

These educators inspire their students to embrace six sustainable happiness skills: gratitude, human connection, positive outlook, purpose, generosity and mindfulness.

Over the next six weeks, 50 Superhero Teachers across the country that personify these critical skills will be inducted into The Happiness League and honored by LG and its social impact partners – Be Strong, CASEL, Discovery Education, Inner Explorer and The Greater Good Science Center – for their dedication and inspiration to young people. Each teacher will be awarded an LG UltraWide computer monitor and receive commemorative superhero capes highlighting their super skill.

Parents and students around the country also will have the opportunity to participate in the Happiness League program by honoring the Superhero Teachers in their lives on social media.

The award-winning Life's Good: Experience Happiness program already has reached more than 4 million students with a science-based curriculum developed to equip youth with the skills necessary to better cope with stress and anxiety, build resilience and support a life-long happiness mindset. Backed by decades of scientific research, Experience Happiness worked with experts in social-emotional learning, education and the science of happiness to identify the six happiness skills, which can be learned, practiced and strengthened.

To learn more about how you can benefit from the happiness super skills and meet America's Superhero Teachers, visit LGExperienceHappiness.com/HappinessLeague.

*"Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, June 24–30, 2020," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, August 14, 2020

About Life's Good: Experience Happiness
Aiming to enrich the lives of 5.5 million youth in the United States by 2022, LG Electronics USA launched a unique initiative called "Life's Good: Experience Happiness." Happiness skills can be learned, according to the Greater Good Science Center at University of California Berkeley, which has identified six skills that sustain one's ability to recognize that life's good: mindfulness, human connection, positive outlook, purpose, generosity and gratitude. LG's award-winning science-based platform is designed to engage leading non-profit and academic partners including Inner Explorer; Be Strong; the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, and Discovery Education that help equip American youth with the skills for sustainable happiness. LGExperienceHappiness.com

SOURCE LG Electronics USA