Good morning Garden Spot!

It is an absolute pleasure to have all of you back for another year. With students as wonderful as each of you, it is easy to be excited about your arrival! Mr. Sanger and I have been waiting in eager anticipation of this day since school ended in the spring. I’m not going to lie, I have shed a few tears this summer thinking about how lonely the high school is without you.

I hope you had a wonderful summer full of relaxation and fun, and that you are excited about all of the awesome times we will be having together this year.

Reminders:

• In a setting with so many people, there are also a wide array of personalities. We will not always agree, and we will not always get along, but we expect that everyone here will treat everyone else around them with respect. We have been discussing as a staff over the past few years the idea of giving respect even when it is not deserved. If someone else treats you poorly, treat them well in return… give them undeserved respect. It is a true testament to someone’s character when they are able to handle the wrong done to them by someone else without responding with the same type of disrespectful behavior. You will all be treated with respect by all of the staff at this school, even when your behaviors may not warrant such respect. We are the adults, and we will model the type of behavior we desire from each of you. That being said, we expect in return that you will continue to grow in your understanding of what respect looks and sounds like.
• iSpartan is a great time to get your homework done and to review your notes from class. Use this time wisely and you will be able to stay ahead of the game. One of the main reasons students struggle in school is that they get behind and begin to feel overwhelmed. If you use iSpartan to stay on track or get ahead, you can alleviate that feeling.
• iSpartan placements will be from days 1 through 10 each cycle. Grades will be pulled on the second day 5 of the school year (September 16) for placements that will begin on the first day of the third cycle. You will be assigned to a new placement for each cycle, and will not return to your homeroom during iSpartan after the second cycle.

Teacher Spotlight:

• I’d like to take a moment to point out how lucky each of you are to have such wonderful and dedicated teachers. Even though they each have different strengths, they all care about your individual success. This is evident in how involved they are in assuring that you are surrounded by people that challenge you to be the best person you can be, the best student you can be, and ultimately to believe that you are capable of more than you may have ever believed. Whether it is the positive attitude they bring to their jobs each day, the smiles they send your way when your day is not going well, the time they dedicate to your lives outside of school, the time they take to talk with you about life and the future as you are growing into the amazing adults that you will ultimately become, or their refusal to give up on you when you are tempted to give up on yourself, each of them has a passion to see you succeed. Thank your teachers today for being a part of your life, and for choosing to be a part of our school so that they can be a source of consistency and joy in your lives.

Personal Challenge:

• You will undoubtedly face times this year where the pressures of succeeding in a class will seem immense. How these times end up is going to be determined by your attitude. Are you going to give up, or are you going to work harder? You have all likely heard the phrase, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” You are surrounded by people that will help you to remain tough when things become difficult. Instead of making excuses for why you cannot get something done, dig deep and seek the support of your friends and teachers.

An important thing to understand in life is that the excuses we make to justify our decision to claim something is too hard, or that we aren’t capable of doing it, are really just an admission that we have decided to give up. Don’t give up! Realize that struggling through a tough time builds character and prepares us for more difficult times that will certainly lie ahead. Life is tough, and learning to persevere in the face of intense difficulty is a key component to being able to enjoy life fully. Acknowledge that struggling is often a sign that what we are currently doing is not working. Instead of throwing in the towel, problem solve and attempt another approach. Look around you… many people are doing well at the task you are feeling is impossible. Seek advice from them on how to succeed. It is often not an inability to achieve something we find difficult that causes us to fail, but rather a decision to give up instead of finding another way to approach the task.

You are all capable of so many great things, and my sincere desire is to help you find the inner strength to persevere through the tough times so that you can find your life full of the great experiences that come from learning to work hard. At the end of the day, you are the only one responsible for your success or failure, and you are the only one that has to live with the decisions you make. Embrace each new challenge, and work hard to make it through everything that life brings your way. I believe in you, and will never give up on you, but that by itself is not enough to make your life as great as it should be. You must believe in yourself…

Have the greatest week ever, and a wonderful start to your year,

Elias M. Cox
Assistant Principal