What Do You Want To Do? I Don’t Know!

I have no idea how often this question is asked in the hallways, classrooms and offices in American high schools.  And, according to what is often reported, the response is very often the one in the title of this article — “I don’t know.”  “Where are you going to college?”  “I don’t know.”  “What are your plans after you graduate?”  “I don’t know.”  “What are you interested in doing?”  “I don’t know.”  I’m not talking about conversations with freshmen . . . these are the talks that we are having with juniors and seniors!  And who can blame them!  There is so much uncertainty out there right now, and the messages that are being given to them are not helpful at all.  Toss in the fact that things change at such a dramatic rate right now and we often find ourselves having a difficult time providing useful guidance.  Let’s take a look at some of those messages out there that are being received by 16, 17, and 18-year olds that are trying to figure out where they go once they graduate from high school.

First and most important, this is not unusual.  Even though it is very stressful for some students — and their parents — it is not unusual for graduating seniors to be undecided as to what they want to major in at college or pursue for a career.  And it isn’t just high school students.  According to various studies, somewhere between 50 and 80% of college students change their majors at least once!  The National Center for Education Statistics published a report that states 85% of college students in the United States end up changing their major at least once and on average, college students change their major three times in their college career.  A study out of Brigham Young University determined that an average of 85% of students change at least once.  A more conservative result was reported by the University of LaVerne out of California where they determined that about 50% of incoming freshmen come in without a declared major, and between 50 and 70% of students change their’s at least once.  

The most obvious reason for the uncertainty is the rapidly changing world that we live in, in most part due to constant changes in technology.  What makes this more confusing is that when one follows current job market trends, those are changing at a rapid rate as well.  In fact, some sources report that up to 60% of the jobs in the future do not even exist at this point!  How is an 18-year old supposed to prepare for a future career that doesn’t even exist?  In our history some types of jobs have disappeared.  There is not a huge demand for coopers or wheelwrights any more, and blacksmiths have for the most part gone by the wayside as well.  With this uncertain forecast, we also see about 50% of college graduates pursing careers that are not related to their majors.  This is a discussion that could lend itself to a couple of articles, but the reality is that this generation of young people is headed into a future with more questions than answers, and there is no reason to be surprised that many do not have a clue what they want to do!

Angela Duckworth and other researchers will point out that this generation suffers from over-involved parents and a lack of grit.  For many millennials their parents have paved their way by doing whatever needs to be done for them so that their have a smooth and easy life.  This has been a huge disservice because many of these kids have been living in somewhat of a bubble world and have not had to think or depend on themselves.  Then, at the age of 17, they are being asked, “What are you going to do with your life?”  The honest answer for many is “I haven’t had to think about that!”  A number of parents have made significant sacrifices so they could give their children whatever they want, and the result is that kids haven’t had to go without, or they have not had to sacrifice in order to obtain the “things” that are important to them.  There is not an appreciation of hard work or overcoming obstacles on their own.  Now they are faced with a decision and many of them realize that their parents cannot make if for them, even though some try!  

On the other side of this issue is increased pressure by the Iowa Department of Education to have students identify a career path while still in high school.  It is not fair to place this only on the their shoulders as they are responding to an immense amount of pressure from politicians who are reacting to pleas from business people in our state for skilled employees.   I get it.  For the economy and future of our state, we need a high quality work force.  We cannot afford to see our best young people leave the state for opportunities elsewhere.  And it is important that we look at opportunities through a clear lens rather than rose-colored glasses.  Thus, here is the paradox.  In Iowa right now there is a high demand for highly skilled workers in the manufacturing and tech world, as well as in the health care and service industry.  And, jobs in those fields are starting to pay better and often include good benefit packages.  At the same time, one cannot ignore the premise that people should follow their passion, whatever that may be, and if opportunity for that pursuit does not exist in Iowa, what is a person to do?  That is one more dilemma faced by graduates that adds to their confusion about their future.

I know what it is like to have a child say “I don’t know,” and I wake up in the middle of the night worrying about the future.  I appease my worries by telling myself that they are bright kids and they will do fine, but that does not absolve me of all of my worries.  When I switch from my parent mode to my educator mode I recognize that they are no different than the majority of their peers, and I stress that the value of education is to become an educated person.  That may sound kind of stupid, but an educated populace is what our economy is based on, and as long as our students learn how to learn, and develop skills like problem solving, collaboration, and grit, they will make it in this world.  It may not happen four years after they leave the halls of NFVHS, and most are going to have four or five careers over their lifetime.  They have to make good choices!  Following one’s passion is great, but they also have to be smart about this and recognize that there may not necessarily be a job that falls within that passion.  At that point, they need to figure out how they can pursue that passion and at the same time earn a comfortable living.  An educated individual will be able to do that.

Why Don’t Our Fans Cheer?

I have started and stopped on this article a half-dozen time over the past couple of years, initially starting on it toward the end of the 2014 basketball season.  Then something would happen that caused me to stop and wait, perhaps thinking that our fans had turned a corner.  But for the most part, our fans still do not cheer like the could and I vowed to finish this article!  The ultimate example was our last basketball game of the 2015-16 season at Beckman Catholic against conference rival MFL MarMac.  What a disappointment, yet perfect example of why I pose the question.  More on that below.

First of all, there have been a few times in the last three or four years when our fans have been a positive part of the event, cheering loud and supporting our team.  In fact, since we became North Fayette Valley, some of the better instances have taken place when our fans have had a positive role in a game.  A raucous gym one night at a basketball game versus South Winn comes to mind.  It is no surprise that we have seen a little more cheering as Valley students and fans had a very good reputation for cheering and supporting their teams.  I remember a conversation with a Valley parent when we were in the planning stages for sharing asking if our fans yelled at football games because he “ sure the heck yelled at football games!”  In conversations about this topic there was hope expressed by a few of us that the Valley spirit would influence the North Fayette fans that tended to sit on their hands and generally display a lack of interest of what was happening in front of them.  At best, there has been a little improvement, but certainly not the kind of support generated by some other schools, nor that amount we had hoped for.  This isn’t to blame Valley folks, rather in terms of students, I wonder if they haven’t been muzzled a little bit by those kids that live in the North Fayette district.

So, why don’t our fans cheer?  I’m talking all of our fans, those in the student section and the adults that come to games as well.  I’m not talking about one sport.  I am talking about all of our spectator sports, starting with football and volleyball, and going through basketball and the other sports.  I will cut a little slack to wrestling fans as I have heard them make some noise at home events, pulling for all of the fellas out on the mat, but on the road they seem to have swallowed their collective voice.  I know some will say that our crowd is good at football games, but I disagree, having the ability to be across the field for most of the games and being able to hear our crowd.  Yes, in big games there is some collective cheering during important moments in the game, chanting “Defense!  Defense! Etc.”  And when games are still close, there is a loud burst of noise when the TigerHawks score.  But more often than not, there isn’t a lot of noise coming from our side of the field compared to other schools.  Why is that?

Some would say it is arrogance.  Because of our success on the football field we expect to do well, and anything less that playing in big playoff games is not that big of a deal.  Why would we cheer for anything other than those games?  Related to this might be another reason: Indifference.  Perhaps we don’t cheer because until we get to games that “mean something” or matter, we aren’t going to waste our time cheering.  Finally, could it be true that we are a “football school” and don’t care about supporting other sports?  I don’t think that is a satisfactory answer, though we do struggle to get strong crowds for most of our other sports.  

It has been suggested that there’s the cool factor, in other words, it isn’t cool to stand up and cheer.  I have never quite figured that one out, though I recognize that some people are self-conscious and don’t want to draw attention to themselves, yet being one of those types has not prevented me from standing up and cheering my lungs out when my beloved Huskers are playing.  There should be strength in numbers and for the individual that is self-conscious there is safety when there is a crowd.  I do kind of get it if the reason is not wanting to draw attention to oneself, but if that was the case, then there would only be a few people that don’t stand and cheer.  The impression given is that it’s not cool.  In the student section we have students that are viewed as leaders by others that simply will not cheer.

Maybe the reason is because we are selfish, which can be looked at from two perspectives.  One side of it might be “I’m the one that people should be cheering for. . .  I don’t cheer for others.”  Could it possibly be that we have students that because they are part of a particular group or clique believe others should cheer for them and they in turn are above cheering for others?  I have heard that suggested by students: “he’s a (fill in the blank) and thinks he’s too good to cheer for anyone else.”  The other way to look at it is that if others don’t cheer for you, why should you cheer for them?  Now some of those ugly character traits sneak in, specifically envy and jealousy.  Why should I cheer for someone if they don’t come and cheer for my team?  I would hope that we aren’t that petty.

Has administration, me included, crushed cheering and school spirit?  I have had people share this with me.  What gets lost in translation here is that we have never attempted to limit cheering.  In fact, we have strongly encouraged our students to be loud and supportive of our teams and their classmates.  What we have worked to eliminate are those “cheers” that are derogatory toward the other team or players, those chants that run others down.  Our expectation is that we have first-class fans that don’t lower themselves to poor sportsmanship.  We want our side of the gym to be loud and proud!  Perhaps as a school leader I need to model the kind of cheering that we desire.  Would that make a difference?  Maybe we need to model it, or show examples of what good, supportive fans look like.  Rather than address the negative cheering like they did in Wisconsin with a state-wide ban on specific cheers, we could do as they do in Michigan where they have Battle of the Fans sponsored by their state activities association to recognize outstanding student sections.  It may be very possible that we need to teach our fans how to cheer and be supportive of our players and teams.

There is nothing more energizing than school spirit and seeing the student body pulling for one another.  We are all NFV TigerHawks and when we support one another it is an incredible thing!  We need to figure out how we can get everyone to that point where no one needs to be coerced to stand up and cheer.  In the first paragraph I mentioned the MFL MarMac game at Dyersville.  What happened that night was with about three second left on the clock our boys were down by one-point and taking the ball out of bounds under the basket on our end.  It should have been a moment when everyone was on their feet cheering and providing energy to our players.  This was one of those situations that some of the guys on the court had dreamed about when they were little kids playing in the driveway.  Three-seconds on the clock . . . time for one last shot . . . Crowd going crazy!  Well, the crowd wasn’t going crazy.  Three people on our side of the gym stood up to yell encouragement to the boys on the floor.  Three people!  We can do better.

Facts You Should Know About College Students

I am going to rely on Tim Elmore again for what I found to be very interesting information in regard to current college students.  With most of you sending a child off to college in the next few years, there are some good bits of information that you might want to know.  If nothing else, you have a few more things to talk about with your college-bound child!

Seven Surprising Facts About College Students

http://growingleaders.com/blog/seven-surprising-facts-college-students/

It Doesn’t Cost Anything To Be Nice!

At one time or another most of you have seen Scott Siepker.  Perhaps you do not recognize him by name, but recognize him as the guy who does the Iowa Nice video.  After that he went on to do Cyclone Nice, Hawkeye Nice, and even appeared regularly on ESPN producing spots for College Football Daily.  He continues to promote Iowa, as well as pursue his career as an actor, writer, and producer.  At the root of the Iowa Nice campaign is the fact that our state has capitalized on the perception — sometimes negative — that people from other parts of the country have about people from our state.  Apparently for some there is something negative about being nice, or that we Iowans have something to be embarrassed about by being nice.  Oh yeah, I’ve heard that "nice guys finish last," but I can show you a number of instances where that isn’t true.  When you watch Iowa Nice Siepker doesn’t apologize for the people of our state being nice, rather he points out many of the other things we have to be proud of.  But it’s clear to me, we do not need to feel any shame for being nice!

Treat others as you want to be treated.  The Golden Rule is a tenant in one form or another in all major religions of the world.  Every one of us wants to be treated respectfully and with kindness, in other words we want people to be nice to us.  I admit that when I was a kid growing up saying that someone was nice didn’t fit in with what was popular.  I even recall (embarrassingly) a conversation our school librarian had with my mom after the National Honor Society Induction my sophomore year.  The topic was “why doesn’t Todd have a girl friend” (yes, embarrassing that a teenage boy’s mother is having a conversation with a teacher about girlfriends) and the librarian answered her own question by saying, “Well, Todd is too nice for the girls in this school.”  Thank goodness that story was not overheard by another walking by, or passed on by my mother to any of her friends!  Geez!  

Today, I constantly encourage teenagers and others to be nice to one another.  I am not embarrassed to give this advice, nor to I choose to use other references.  Nice is good, and if more of us treated one another in a nice manner, we would have a lot better place to live and go about doing the things we do.  Today I am disgusted by the lack of civility modeled and demonstrated by our political leaders, and honestly, by many of us.  Never have I been witness to the polarity that exists in our country.  Apparently we have outgrown another pearl of wisdom imparted by our elders:  If you don’t have something good to say, don’t say anything at all!  Right now politicians don’t seem to hesitate to call others names, threaten, or accuse them of horrible things, often without facts and purposefully deviating from the truth.  There seems to be a mentality in our country that if you don’t see it my way, then screw you!  No one apologizes when they are proven to be wrong, and rather than admit to a lie, the book seems to say that one should keep lying until people either believe you or something else comes along to district people’s attention.  

Leading up to the election in November we hear that a lot people in our country are angry.  The image that comes to mind is the two-year old stomping their feet and throwing a tantrum in the grocery store because a mom won’t buy the cereal they want.  We have been told by one side of the aisle that “compromise” is a four-letter word that really means accepting defeat, and the other side responds with other ways of obstructing progress toward middle ground.  When people live in a world of extremes, negotiation is nearly impossible and common ground becomes elusive.  And like the world in the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s and into the 1980’s, there is no trust, and fear causes anger and frustration.  I get that people are angry about a variety of different things, and I have been upset by a few things that have transpired over the past ten years, but anger takes a lot of energy, negative energy, and that is not how I want to live life.  Nor is it how I think life should be lived at North Fayette Valley High School.

The beauty of a public high school is that regardless of how homogeneous the community, what diversity does exist is amplified in a school.  A school is a laboratory in many respects, as well as a model of the larger community.  There are disagreements on a daily basis, and at times strong emotions expressed.  School is a safe place as well as a place to learn, so not only do we honor the opportunity to express an opinion, we also have the chance to learn how to deal with the emotions that come when people disagree. It is a place to take risks and take a chance to express individuality, which often elicits a response.  And, it is a great place to see and learn about differences that exist, learning to appreciate that fact that we are not all the same in our likes and dislikes.  Within this melting pot, or pot of stew, life goes a lot smoother when we are nice to one another.  None of us likes to be run down or degraded, and that isn’t necessary when people recognize each of us has a right to express an opinion.  Being nice means saying nothing rather than criticizing.  Being nice means keeping an opinion to oneself about a hair cut or a clothing choice rather than giving a cutting remark.  Being nice means hitting Cancel rather then Send.  Being nice means sitting by that boy at a table who is alone, or smiling and saying “Hi!” to the girl walking down the hall with her head down.  Hey, we live in Iowa, and Iowans are nice!

Personal Branding: Something Important For All Students

The term “branding” has become a popular one in recent years, generally in reference to marketing done by businesses and institutions.  The purpose is to plant an idea or an image so that people will immediately recognize it and think about a specific company or school.  The Golden Arches immediately remind people of McDonalds just as the yellow Tigerhawk on a black surface symbolizes the University of Iowa Hawkeyes.  In some instances significant money is spent not only on the development of the image, but also on the impact that it has on the public, such as the subliminal impact of hidden images in the logo, such as the arrow in the Fed Ex logo.  However, branding is much more than the image or the logo.  And, branding goes beyond corporations and universities.  According to Jerry McLaughlin, “brand is the perception someone holds in their head about you, a product, a service, an organization, a cause, or an idea.  Brand building is the deliberate and skillful application of effort to create a desired perception in someone else’s mind.”  Today, the brand that each of our students is developing for themselves is very important for how they are going to be perceived in the future, and it goes much further than a logo.

Let’s take at look at what the NCAA shares with student-athletes because it can easily serve as a guide for all young people today.  From the NCAA on personal branding:  As a NCAA student-athlete, be aware of your actions in public and on social media (i.e. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc.)  You build your personal brand from the moment you start communicating.  Think for yourself.  Ask a lot of questions.  Keep the big picture in mind.  And always remember: You represent your university first, your team second,  then yourself last.  

We have talked a number of times with students about making smart choices as to what they put out on the Internet about themselves, from postings on Facebook to images on Pinterest or Snapchat.  In the past couple of years lessons have been provided to help them better understand how to create a positive image of themselves online, and in a sense market themselves.  In essence, this is what personal branding is all about.  Through social media students have the chance to promote themselves to colleges and future employers, and rather than share pictures out partying with a beer in hand or forwarding on memes or messages that might be perceived as negative, they can build a picture that focuses on the positives.  

At the beginning of each school year we tell students to “clean” all of their social media.  About five years ago a former student of mine had mentioned to me how the University of Iowa had told students who were planning to apply to medical school to go through and get rid of all pictures and references on their Facebook page before they start the application process because admissions folks would go through everything on their background check.  In conversation that I have had with admission counselors from a couple of state universities, I was told that every potential student-athlete is vetted by interns who do extensive online searches to get an idea of what they may have posted so they can get a better, more thorough idea into the character and background of the students they are recruiting. If things show up, they are flagged and in some instances, are no longer recruited.  It is not just athletes that colleges look at.  With the simplicity of online searches, all potential applicants are vetted.  And it doesn’t stop with college.  Recent conversations with employers confirm that they are doing the same thing.  One of our largest local employers share how they go through social media, specifically asking potential employees to open their Facebook page and other social media sites for them to view.

Social media is an important part of many student’s life, with many pro’s and con’s in terms of the impact it has on their daily life.  It is very powerful and it makes sense that it is used to create every student’s personal brand.  There is a tremendous amount of positive information that a student can share out that they can use to market themselves to colleges and employers.  Tiger Woods, Prince, Triple H, and many other celebrities have logos that have contributed to their personal brand, and they are easily recognized by fans and others.  But it goes so much further than that, and today our students can use incredible resources to develop the positive image they want to project.  Their brand is important!

What Really Motivates Us?

A few years ago I had the opportunity to listen to Daniel Pink speak at a conference  about his research and at that time his recently published book A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future.  I walked away thinking that it was one of the best presentations I had ever heard, inspired to purchase his book to learn more about the role of creativity and how it would shape education, business, and industry.  The book did not disappoint and it served as a source of a lot of my fundamental beliefs that I hold today.

Four years after A Whole New Mind, Pink published a book that had even further reaching influence.  Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us has unlocked the key to how people perform at a high level and at the same time experience a great deal of satisfaction in all aspects of their life: work, school, and home.  What Pink discloses is that all of us have a deep, innate need to direct and be in control of our own life, as well as to create things.  Each of use has a strong desire to do better by ourselves and our world.

Pink, a lawyer by education with experience as an aid to former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and chief speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore, initially started writing about the changing workplace a number of years ago.  He relies on meta-analysis designed research and quickly started applying his findings to education as well.  In Drive, Pink shares that there has been a disconnect between what science knows and how business/education has used to motivate employees/students.  

For years business and schools, and for that matter, parents, have sought to motivate employees, students, and children through the carrot or stick philosophy.  A sweeter carrot or sharper stick would bring about the outcome that was desired.  The most common example in business are pay for performance and in education, typical grading programs.  According to Pink, that is a 20th-century mindset that does not work today.  He has supporters that share the same opinion.  A study conducted by the London School of Economics resulted in the finding “that financial incentives can result in a negative impact on overall performance.”  The London School of Economics is home to a dozen Nobel Prize winners for economics.  In essence, the systems used in business and many schools are based “more on folklore than science,” and simply do not work.  According to these studies, the extrinsic systems of the past need to be replace by systems that place an emphasis on intrinsic motivation.  Rewards narrow one’s focus, and in today’s world we need workers that widen it.

In school we have students there are motivated by the carrot, in our case, grades.  But that is a very small percentage of students, and even for those “grade-chasers,” straight A’s do not always result in a high level of learning.  For some, the grade is an inaccurate measure of performance because of the system that is in place, and students find at the next level that they were more focused on the reward than the learning.  Shifting from an extrinsic system where an emphasis on grade rewards to one based on learning is at the focal point of our standards based grading program that we are moving toward.

Pink states that there are three elements of “true motivation” that should be put into action.  They are: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.  In Drive he shares about successful companies that have employed these and have become more productive and successful.  Autonomy is control over one’s life and is prominent in businesses and schools that become high performing.  When students have control over their education through choice and personal accountability, the depth of their ownership in their own learning increases.

The desire to get better at something is how Pink defines mastery and is at the core of standards based learning.  In the system we are moving toward, mastery of specific content knowledge and skills, and the ability to demonstrate that, is the goal for every student. When students master something, there becomes a strong internal sense of accomplishment, especially when one is able to do something they did not believe they could do.

Perhaps the third, purpose, is the one that we have done the poorest job of using in school and business.  Purpose is to do something that is important beyond ourselves.  Today our schools are full of young, “me-focused” teenagers, and the millennials that have entered the labor force tend to be very self-centered.  However, they very much want more, and are very motivated by opportunities to impact others when given the opportunity.  They want to make a difference in the lives of others.  We need to give them that opportunity.

In the business world employers still have to pay workers adequately and fairly, but those who have given employees a day each week to go off and work on something they really want are finding invaluable rewards.  At Google, 20% of a workers time is spent working on anything they want and the result has been a number of new products that Google has developed and put on the market.  We have a couple teachers experimenting with what is commonly called “genius time” where students are able to work on anything they want and direct their own learning.  In addition to providing purpose, this learning is self-directed and often results in a very high level of learning.

Pink has given us the tools to improve how we teach and motive students.  Now we must have the “drive” to do so!

Why Do You Do That?

There is no way I can begin to estimate how many times people have asked my why I choose to be a high school principal.  Either that, or they say something along the line of “There is no way I would ever do that!”  Yes, it is a tough job and there are certainly those days when I go home at night exhausted and with some form of negative emotion, perhaps anger or disappointment, but most often, frustration.  But, I am not a stupid man — stubborn, but not stupid — and I would not keep doing this if the negatives outweighed the positives.  There are many more days that give me positive satisfaction than the tough ones, and I do subscribe to the philosophy of “if you enjoy what you do then you will never work a day in your life,” though this job is a lot of work!  What people who are not in the school building day in, day out do not know, is that every day is different and there are incredible things that happen that more often than not bring me great joy!  

So what are those things that bring me great joy?  The list could go on and on, but here are a few.  I love watching happy people.  Sometimes without even knowing what is going on, I get a smile on my face and a good feeling in my soul watching kids being happy.  It may be a girl running up to a friend with a skip in her step, a huge smile on her face and wide-eyed, to share some important news.  Who knows, and who cares what the news was! They are excited and you can’t help but crack a smile yourself.  Suffice to say, being in the presence of happy people makes the day go better, and a day doesn’t go by when you don’t see some of this.

I love seeing a student’s eyes light up when they “get it” or when they have a chance to talk about something they are passionate about, or when they hear some unexpected good news.  When any of these things happen I get a warm feeling in my stomach, and sometimes I have even gotten a lump in my throat.  In regard to passion, in recent years nothing has brought that to the surface with students as much as the Capstone project.  To watch and listen to a young man talk about fly fishing, and another about bass fishing was actually moving.  Or when a young lady produced a style show of prom dresses over the decades and headed off to college to study fashion and design.  Passion is hard to  disguise and is contagious.

It is really cool when a student takes a moment to go out of their way to share about something big that has happened to them.  This is far better than parents bragging up their child because when you hear it from the kid you know it is important to them. Of course you have to love humility, but when a student comes up with a look of pride and shares that she was accepted to her first college choice, that is memorable.  Or when you receive word through ACT that five students in the class scored 30 or better on the test, you just can describe the feeling you have.  

After sticking around for an extra day to finish up some work, a senior in the Class of 2016 got his check out sheet signed by Mr. Clark and as he walked down the hall to turn it in to Robin Albert, he raised both arms above his head and yelled a loud “Whoo-hoo!”  Making it all the more enjoyable to see and hear is that this particular young many was one of the softest spoken members of the class.  I had a few conversations with him over the past year, but he was far from a talker!  I loved that response because school has not been easy for him.

Another very important memory took place a few years ago at graduation when a student who has overcome incredible obstacles in her life, coming to this country from a life lived in what we consider primitive conditions surrounded by a lawless environment with gun toting criminals, was something I certainly could not identify with.  The first female in her family to earn a high school diploma, and since, to go on to college.  On that graduation day after the ceremony the small family was gathered outside and as I walked by I made eye contact, smiled, and nodded at the group on my way to my car.  As I opened the door I felt a tap on my shoulder and one of the family members asked me if I would join the young lady and her family in a photo to mark the accomplishment.  I was honored to be included and it is one of my favorite moments of my life!  

I have been at this teaching and principal gig for 30 years now, and the number of these types of things are far too numerous to count.  And, I have forgotten more than I remember!  Watching great teachers teach is another joy that I have.  There is no question that there are times in the classroom that are pure magic, when the preparation of the teacher leads to an outstanding learning experience for the students.  Just as important are the incredible things that teachers do that impact students, both in and out of the classroom.  One of those on the list is the complete 180-degree turn taken in a relationship between one of our teachers and a student from 7th grade through the student’s junior year.  It would be safe to say that a few years ago the student and parents did not like or have an ounce of respect for the teacher, as was displayed during meetings, phone calls, and email communication.  What has happened since, while not a miracle, is certainly one of the best examples of people treating each other with respect and putting the past behind them.  While the student has faced a number of struggles, this teacher has been there for him every inch of the way.  While it may be one of the most extreme turn of events, it is not unusual that when students mature and are given more than a couple of chances, sometimes the incredible happens.  I get a great deal of satisfaction when the incredible happens, but also when those little things like getting a student with a sad look on their face smile when you say “Hello!"