Leave it all on the field...

“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

-Vince Lombardi

This past Thursday quickly set the bar for what it will take to get onto my "Proudest Principal Moments" list. Several weeks ago, I put forth an idea to my staff that I wanted to kick off a commitment to community service by holding a Service Day at Sullivan Middle School. I believe that one of the responsibilities we have as educators is to instill in our students a sense of ownership in their community. If our small town is going to succeed in this next century, it will be because individuals took it as their personal responsibility to make it so. The extent to which our students pour themselves into making our community stronger will largely determine how successful we will be. 

My vision was to have a fall day of service in which our students would break into their grade level groups and take on some smaller service project during the morning. Our classes were going to be shorter due to parent teacher conferences that evening, and we still needed to fit in a celebration for our students who met their reading goal (nearly 80% this time around), so it made sense to do service in the morning and celebrate reading in the afternoon. Pair that with conferences until 8pm, and I knew I was asking a lot of my teachers. I expected a few of them to quietly express their concerns that this was too much. I even expected that I may have one or two vocally express this during our faculty meeting. What I got was the complete opposite. Our teachers tackled the challenge with enthusiasm and came up with ideas and a vision beyond anything I had in mind when I pitched it to them. They worked hard and coordinated their efforts with the efforts of others in the community, and our SMS Fall Service Day took shape.

Thursday morning came, and I was nervous. This was the largest "outside the box" thing I have done in my short time in the principal's chair, and while I was sure my teachers were all in, I wasn't entirely sure how our students would react to the challenge. Some of them were going to be pushed so far out of their comfort zone that it would no longer be visible on the horizon. I spoke with each class the day before to explain to them the importance of what they were about to do. I explained to them, that for many in our community, the work they did that morning would represent their only impression of what we do at Sullivan Middle School, and I thought their daily hard work deserved to be represented by those who never get the chance to see it. They seemed responsive, but still, as I drove to the school Thursday morning, my stomach was in knots. Would this work, or would it all blow up in my face? I was counting on a very large group of people that I have only been leading for a few short months to pull off something kind of big by making "an individual commitment to a group effort", which is a big ask for 11-14 year olds.

Shortly after 8:15, things started to move. The delivery van showed up with pumpkins for the 8th graders to paint to help the Chamber of Commerce step up their decorating efforts on the square for Oktoberfest this weekend. Buses arrived to take the 7th grade to Mason Point to do crafts, visit, and entertain residents for a couple of hours. The 6th grade teachers started filing their students over to the elementary school where they would spend the morning working with K-1 classrooms on reading activities. All I could do was watch and remember to breath. I should clarify that my anxiety was not tied to any doubts about my teachers or students. I knew that if they were given the tools to succeed, they would. My anxiety was over the questions I had about whether I had put them in a position to be successful or not.

Once everyone was out of the building, I hopped in my truck and began making the rounds. I wanted to go witness the work they were doing. When I arrived at the park pavilion to check on pumpkin painting, I was blown away by the artistic talent, but more than that I was blown away by the level of engagement. Not a single student was needing to be re-directed. They were all on-task and so well behaved. It exceeded by expectations.

I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face as I headed out to Mason Point to check in on 7th grade.  When I walked in, students were already seated at tables with their residents, chatting away and eating cookies as they worked on fall themed crafts to decorate the residents' rooms. I walked around and had 12 year olds excitedly introducing me to their partners and telling me the interesting things they had already learned about them. One student couldn't wait to introduce me to a real-life World War II veteran. What was even better than watching the students in action, was watching them buzz about it at lunch when they returned. Several asked if they could go back at Christmas to do more decorations and sing Christmas Carols. I think we may have stumbled backwards into an ongoing service project to make multiple visits to our area nursing homes throughout the year. What a great opportunity for our kids to connect with others and learn from them.

My final stop was with the 6th grade back on campus. I walked in and was immediately seeing our kids running around with their "littles" to help with a scavenger hunt using their iPads. Another group was stretched out in the grass outside reading books with their 1st grade counterparts, and yet another group was playing duck-duck-goose and some variation of tag that they clearly understood much better than I was able to.

After lunch, teachers spent an hour working with kids that need some extra help before we brought 80% of our student body to the gym for a 2 hour dance party. My teachers, who had every right to find a nice seat and supervise from a stationary position, chose instead to dance with the kids (sorry, no video) and even take over DJ duties from me (Thanks, DJ DLee). 

Once the students were dismissed, teachers had a short break to grab a bite to eat and then get ready for 4 hours of parent teacher conferences. I was very impressed by the turnout from our parents, and I think a lot of partnerships were solidified to make sure we are doing the most we can for every student. Sure, we all walked out of the building shortly after 8pm like extras from The Walking Dead, but we left it all on the field on Thursday. Our teachers poured everything they had into our school and our community for 12 straight hours. I couldn't be more proud to be the principal of Sullivan Middle School, and Thursday is a prime example of why I feel that way.