SMS Principal Blog

Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you'll soon find many others around you. Truly appreciate life, and you'll find that you have more of it. -Ralph Marston As we enter the week of Thanksgiving, I want to take time to express to all of you how thankful I am for the opportunity to work with you every day. I truly believe in the educational experience we provide for students here at Sullivan Middle School, and that experience is what it is because each and every one of you show up here every morning with the intention of making it great.  I am thankful for the fact that you all enjoy working with one another. The joy that you all take in each other's company shows in the work that you do, and our students benefit from it. I am thankful for your willingness to support our students where they are. It is very easy in education to ...

"Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." -Abraham Lincoln I feel like the issue of character and reputation has been on my mind a lot lately and for a lot of different reasons. Obviously the main focus of teaching is to guide students to mastery of our respective subjects, but so often we find out that in order to unlock the full potential of a child, we need to also guide the growth of their character. Academic mastery requires so many character traits: ambition and perseverance to name a couple. Maintaining a positive learning environment requires even more: respect, empathy, and many others.  I feel like our building is facing a bit of a crisis point in the area of building character. We are being challenged in a way we have not been challenged before, and I am incredibly grateful for the initiative I have seen from our staff to address it. I have no doubt we will find the solutions w...