Dear Parents and Students,
Welcome to our new members and welcome back to our returning members. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am for a new school year. As first years go, last year was amazing for me. Do not expect to see a sophomore slump from this principal! I wanted to take a moment to talk to you about the School theme for this school year. Our theme this year is “Under Construction: Character Building.”
Many of you know of the wonderful changes that are taking place in this school: The library and computer center have been combined to make one large media center. New bulletin boards have been put up in the hallway to better showcase student work. The bathrooms have been painted and will be remodeled over our Thanksgiving break.
All of this is wonderful, however, it has made me question, “If the building is being improved shouldn’t we be doing something to improve ourselves also?” That question is one we rarely ask. I think in some ways it is easier to improve our living and work spaces than it is to improve ourselves. We rarely take time to reflect on what we need to build upon to make ourselves better people. I ask everyone, not just the students, to think of something you could make better about yourself. Believe me; it is easier to make repairs to your building than it is to make repairs to yourself.
With that idea in mind we have 14 key points. I know it seems like a lot, but it really isn’t.
*honesty (tell the truth) *kindness (be nicer)
*self discipline (control yourself) *cooperation (help others)
*trustworthiness (don’t lie) *perseverance (work hard)
*courage (do the right thing) *loyalty (don’t pass along that rumor)
*fairness (don’t judge) *citizenship (help others)
*acceptance (be tolerant) *respect (treat all with dignity)
*patience (don’t complain) *responsibility (be dependable)
Many of these things go together so easily you could accomplish three or four at the same time. But, I would ask everyone to pick at least one thing from the list and work on it, REALLY work on it. Put yourself “under construction” and see what wonderful and positive changes you could make to your “building”.
I have picked patience. I am going to try to become a more patient person. I’m going to try to remember when I’m stuck behind a slow driver to relax and enjoy the day. I’m going to be more patient when my supplier calls and tells me things are on back order, this will give me chance to be more creative. I’m going to be more patient in the supermarket when someone with a full cart is in the ten items or less lane, this will allow me to get something I may have forgotten. Since working on my patience will require a lot of self discipline I will work on that also. In short, I’m going to work on my “building”. I would encourage all of you to do the same.