Gratitude

Today was a day filled with gratitude. Gratitude that extends to the students, teachers and community in which I live. For you see, today was the day that teachers began moving in to our new high school. It has been a day where our community can celebrate the culmination of a three year process and a commitment was made to public education.

I am a product of public schools and have chosen to spend my life helping students become life ready through valuable lessons taught in the classroom. Public schools are the backbone of our democracy and a free public education is one of our pillars. It takes a strong, vibrant, and progressive community to ante up and pay for a 21st Century facility to educate young people for our rapidly changing world and because of this, I am filled with gratitude for the community in which I live for believing so strongly in the mission of public schools.

My gratitude is further extended to the wonderful people who I have been entrusted to lead. As they walked into the building today for the first time in months, I saw the gratitude on their faces. Although they had a ton of unpacking to do, they wandered the halls of their new home with awe. These dedicated professionals are committed to making this new building a place where rigorous learning will take place so that they may prepare students for the life they will encounter after high school. Armed with a positive attitude, they were troopers today as they began the process of making this building their new home.

I am also eternally grateful to the students who showed up today to help teachers move in. They selflessly gave up time out of their summer vacation to shoulder the burden of moving in to a 350,000 square foot building. Enticed only by a delicious catered lunch, these students were invaluable to the move in process and we are indebted to them as a school.

As a principal, there are a number of indelible marks that will stay with me long after I leave the profession. This was one of them. Not many people get to go through a process like this and I do not take for granted the privilege that has been bestowed upon me. I'm confident our community's commitment to public education will last for decades to come. For that, I am full of gratitude.