Advice from the Superintendent

Superintendent Bennett's notes to seniors

Congratulations, Seniors, for reaching this milestone in your lives!  You will have many more memorable times such as this.  As you reach these points in your lives, many of you will pause to reflect about what you have done and what you do next.  Many of you are having some of these thoughts now.  In this year’s Morgan County High School Pursuits on the page entitled “The Three W’s”, you’ll find a question that you may be pondering over the next weeks:  “What will be of value as you grow older?”  Here are few random reflections on this question.  
Your diploma suggests that you know those things required for you to graduate.  There will be many high school graduates from across the country who will get similar diplomas indicating that they have the same or similar knowledge as you.  What you know now is important, but there is still much to learn.  There’s an old proverb that goes something like this:  “Those who graduate today and stop learning tomorrow are uneducated the day after.” Regardless of whether your next step is technical school, the military, college or the workforce, your learning will continue.  Not all of what you learn will be in a classroom.  What will make a difference is how each of you will be able to use what you know, at this point, to grow as a person. 
While knowledge is still the foundation, how you are able to use and act on that knowledge will be even more important.  What you can do will be information that others will want to know about you.  It is even more important for you to think about what you can do.  Daniel Pink, in the FLIP Manifesto, offers advice that tends to be unconventional.  For example, conventional wisdom would have you ask the question “What’s your passion?” when in the midst of making decisions about what you want to do.  As you ponder new opportunities, maybe you should ask what Pink considers a far more important question:  “What do you do?”  Pink suggests that people find their way through career decisions through action. 
What can you do?  What do you plan to learn how to do?  What do you enjoy doing?
What kind of person you are becoming is probably the most important thing that you do each day.  The decisions you make each day and what you do everyday contribute to who you are becoming.  Hopefully, you are seeking to be someone of value to yourself, to your family, and to your community.  So how do you determine whether the direction you choose is of value to you or others?  That is something you will have to determine for yourself.  One direction that you may want to consider is in service to others.  You may find your value in serving others.    The interesting thing about service to others is that with the right spirit anyone can serve.  Albert Einstein noted:  “It is high time the ideal of success should be replaced with the ideal of service.”  Maybe real success in life can be found through service to others. 
One last thought that probably has nothing to do with anything written here.  And, then again, maybe it does.  A world of opportunities is about to reveal itself.  There will be times when you make choices based on a role you think you have to fill or because of pressure exerted by others.  There are many adults who look back and regret missed opportunities.  Mark Twain said it best:  “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover.”
Again, congratulations!

Letter from the Principal

Don’t worry, this isn’t the end...

Dear Graduates,

Congratulations on your upcoming graduation ceremony! Now that you have reached this exciting milestone in your life, what can you take with you to your next destination?  As members of the Class of 2012, you have achieved great things and been successful throughout your time at Morgan County High School. What have you gained here that will be of help to you as you move into the next part of your life?
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (and printed for you in the last two issues of Pursuits), there are 10 skills that people need for college and careers.  They are as follows:
ऀ•ऀCommunication Skills;
ऀ•ऀHonesty and Integrity;
ऀ•ऀTeamwork Skills;
ऀ•ऀInterpersonal Skills;
ऀ•ऀMotivation/Initiative;
ऀ•ऀStrong Work Ethic;
ऀ•ऀAnalytical Skills;
ऀ•ऀFlexibility/Adaptability;
ऀ•ऀTechnology Skills;
ऀ•ऀSelf-Confidence.
For your final final exam, take a look at the list and think about where you stand in each of those areas. Which is your strong point?  In what area do you need more work? What have you gained so far?
You probably can look back and see that these items were ones that you didn’t have listed as classes on your report card, but were a big part of your experience at MCHS. Your teachers worked to give you access to these skills, even when you didn’t know they were doing so.  Homework?  Work ethic.  If you didn’t get it done regularly while in school, now you are going to have to learn it.  Self-confidence?  All of those club meetings, athletic teams school-wide events of which you were a part?  Communication Skills? All of those times your teachers made you give presentations and discussions.
We have been working with you to build your catalogue of success throughout the years.   Finishing high school doesn’t mean that you have learned it all or that you are finished with your progress in these areas.  No matter whether you immediately go into a career or if you gain formal education in preparation for one, these skills are ones that will serve you well in whatever you do. At MCHS, you got it started.  Now isn’t the ending, but the beginning.  The beginning of the next phase of becoming the awesome, skillful person you can become. Good luck as you take what you have so far and make it even greater!
On behalf of all of the faculty and staff at MCHS, thank you for what you have contributed to our school and our community and thank you for having been a great group of young people!  It has been our privilege to work with you.

Proud to have been your prinicipal,
Mark Wilson

Printed in the May 24, 2012 edition