No Better Time
Source/Author: Mike Murphy, Headmaster
February 13, 2020
This past week, I joined a Student Ambassador, Ceci Garcia ‘20, as she led a tour of our Middle and Upper Schools. Our guest was blown away by the high levels of engagement we all observed as we randomly entered, math, Spanish, art, technology, Medical Sciences, English and history classes. Of course, it is impressive to have a member of the senior class be able to describe the programs being offered at Shorecrest. Yet I am sure Ceci would agree, it is even more impressive to have students and teachers share their enthusiasm for the work they are doing.
I am not sure everyone is as fortunate as we are at Shorecrest to be able to walk into any classroom, and for that matter office, and find students, teachers and staff totally engaged in their “work.” While touring our guest, Ceci commented that engagement is the norm - with the exception of the last period of the day right before a planned vacation. I think we can all agree that even the most industrious people deserve a Mulligan now and then.
I left Ceci and our guest and reflected on what a great time it is to be a student at Shorecrest. In fact, while I hope education and schooling will continue to be increasingly engaging and relevant to the lives of our students, what is happening today appears better than ever before. We have made progress. There is no better time to be a student at Shorecrest than now.
We can easily get stuck on hyper analyzing the areas we need to improve. I often wear myself out with that kind of thinking. It is important to be on a constant quest for improvement. At the same time, we help ourselves and our children when we acknowledge that we are providing them with high quality, engaging learning experiences with dedicated teachers and wonderful peers.
We can list all the challenges that our children and the children around the world experience, and we need to acknowledge those stressors. Yet, I will again point to all that is available to our children to help them learn to deal with those challenges and focus on the the positive experiences they enjoy that hopefully far exceed the challenges.
In short, I am encouraging our community to look at the glass that is more than half full. In most cases it is. Drink up!
Cheers!
Mike
