Saturday, March 21, 2015

Life After High School

Eagles,

End-of-Spring-Break Greetings to you!

355

That's the number of class periods left in the 14-15 school year, after accounting for our Final Exam schedule in June. Can you believe it? More important than that, what will you do with that time? Will you prove the time is valuable to you?

I would like to share with you something I read today that reminded me of our mission here at EHS, to "launch young people into successful adult lives of learning, service, and meaningful work". NBA great Steve Nash just announced his retirement from professional basketball, and published a letter to fans on The Players' Tribune. You don't have to read the entire letter to get what I wanted to share with you. Toward the end of his letter, Nash says:

This letter is for anyone who’s taken note of my career. At the heart of this letter, I’m speaking to kids everywhere who have no idea what the future holds or how to take charge of their place in it. When I think of my career, I can’t help but think of the kid with his ball, falling in love. That’s still what I identify with and did so throughout my entire story.

This idea, that young people deserve every opportunity to dream about their future, and work to make their future what they want it to be, is at the heart of our mission at EHS, and drives me personally every day. This is why the Eagle staff is here, because we believe you, our students, have a bright future after high school, and we want to play a part in making that future a reality. Like Nash says, you have no idea right now what your future holds, but dream big, work hard, and be kind to others. You can't go wrong that way.

355 -- The Home Stretch

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Welcome to 2015!

Eagle Family,

I hope you have enjoyed Christmas Break, and I hope your New Year celebration was exciting and rewarding for you. It's good to reflect at this time of year, and give some thought to the things to leave behind in the old year, and what to seek in the new year.

I hope these items will be listed among your goals for 2015:

*Service: How are you working to make the lives of other people better?

*Positive friendships: Are the people you associate with helping you accomplish good things?

*Academic success: Have you reached the limit of your learning potential? (Hint: None of us has!)

*Connectedness: Are you involved in something positive at EHS outside of class?

*Vision: What is your next step after high school is over? Are you preparing yourself for that next step?

Remember our mission at EHS: To launch young people into successful adult lives of learning, service, and meaningful work. How appropriate at New Year's to remember that everything we're doing is about the future, which I'm convinced is bright.

Happy New Year!