Journey On

“Perhaps the most important thing we can undertake toward the reduction of fear is to make it easier for people to accept themselves, to like themselves." - Bonaro W. Overstreet

Education, as a public and personal endeavor, should be about discovering the potential and uniqueness of every young person who strides into our classrooms. It should be simultaneously a discovery of self and of others; a journey, impossible to complete but essential to begin.

Graduation. Time ebbs and flows, circles back and crashes forwards at times. I think of faces, of smiles... laughter and tears. I think of dynamic leaders, of compassionate supporters... learners and givers. Some carry more burden along the journey and many journey, too often, alone.

Each of these young hearts deserve our kindness, each of these young minds deserve our dedication, and each of them deserve an education which values creation over imitation.

As we send South Western seniors out to journey on, I hope they have experienced the joy of learning, the discomfort of authentic growth, and the support of an empathetic community. They have shared their talents, their hopes, and their fears. They have written, spoke, danced, sung, planned, lead, volunteered, drawn, calculated, thought, moved, played, questioned, dared, repaired, cared, loved, lost, dreamed...

They have too much to offer the world to remain tethered here but I hope they feel, "Once a Mustang, Always a Mustang".

Congratulations to the Class of 2013.