New Years Is HereNCHS Superintendent’s Report
By Ernie Fowler – Nashville CHSD #99
efowler@nashville-k12.org
Say good-bye to 2015 and welcome 2016! Another new year is upon us. Our students are in the middle of Christmas break. Santa is parked back at the North Pole resting up from yet another exhausting delivery. Our students and staff are in the middle of a mental health vacation from the stresses of school. I’m sure all are counting down to the start of the second semester on January 4.
New Year’s Day is often a time of self-evaluation. Resolutions are made. I’ve made plenty of resolutions throughout my life. I’m convinced that I have broken just as many and most were broken in record time. I’m sure I have many areas to improve in my life but two of the more common vices I’ve never started so I don’t have to stop. I don’t smoke so I’ve never had to put down the Camel. I don’t use alcohol so I’ve never had to resolve to ease up on the Schlitz. I’ve resolved to eat healthier. That lasted until I got a whiff of a flame-grilled Whopper. I resolved to exercise more. That lasted until I plopped down in my Lazy Boy…..with my Whopper in hand. All in all….my encounters with resolutions have always had me on the losing end. Resolution without commitment equals failure. Who wants to start the New Year with a feeling of guilt over a promise that we made to ourselves that we broke before we even got use to writing 2016 on our checks!
I’ve found one resolution that each one of us could shoot for in the coming year. It is one that the youngest student to the oldest person can do. How about this…..”I resolve to be a better person in 2016 than I was in 2015”. Maybe this would entail using kinder words to those around us. Maybe this would be something as simple as opening the door for another person. Maybe this would be saying a word of appreciation for someone near to you. Maybe this would be making a simple phone call to someone who might be lonely. Maybe this would be refusing to gripe and groan when our parents tell us to clean our rooms or be home at a certain time. Maybe it is putting forth even 10% more effort on an assignment given by a teacher who is trying to expand our mind. Maybe it is being more patient with that ever-annoying little brother or sister.
I believe that most folks are good people in general. I also believe that the only way to improve the world around us is to individually commit to being a slightly better person today than we were yesterday. That is the key to keeping the resolution to be a better person in 2016 than in 2015. Happy New Year to all of our NCHS students, families, friends, and great people who make up Nashville!
New Years Is Here
