Spring Break

Glad to see everyone back and ready to finish the year strong. During Spring break I took my wife to Las Vegas. We enjoyed the sun and palm trees at the pool as well as walking the strip with the bustling crowds of people. During our time there we were privy to attend Phantom of the Opera. What a spectacular production! The music, acting and emotion of that opera portrayed to us that we have control of what we put on our personal stages. The stage in the opera house at Las Vegas was amazing. There were trap doors, fire hoses, numerous backdrops, and a lake like setting. The setting was perfect for that opera because of the stage. What do we put on our stages? What are we thinking about each day? Our minds are stages, what we put on them is what we think about. Using our amazing talents such as mental creativity and the power to reason, make our stages unstoppable. We have the ability to think and contemplate of whatever we want. Think of positive things and you will be positive. Expand your mind and you will be accepting to change and open for newness.

Rachel's Challenge

Students walking through the halls at Rawlins High School come from several different backgrounds. Many of our students work after school. There is a large population of students that are involved in extra-curricular activities. All in all, each student is part of the Rawlins High School vision, which is to educate students to be productive citizens of their community and country. In order to enhance this effort, students and teachers from Rawlins High School and the Cooperative High School, tapped into the mindset and life of Rachel Scott. We invited Rachel’s Challenge to come into our schools and community on January 27, 2009. Their response was heard by many.
Rachel Scott was a unique person in character and example. She went out of her way to eliminate prejudice and create an atmosphere of kindness. Her life ended abruptly on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School, in Columbine, Colorado. As horrific as that day was, her family and friends have made a tremendous effort to remember and reinforce what she did during her life. Listening to her story in a series of assemblies makes me think that we have students similar to her that walk our halls each day. There are students that have dreams and goals. We have students that choose their influences with careful gestures of acceptance. Rachel’s story reminds us that we can always let our light shine brighter.
Over the past week I have heard students discussing their feelings and thoughts toward the assembly presentation of Rachel’s Challenge. One student expressed that the presentation reminded her that she liked who she was before she became acquainted with another individual and that she wanted to change back to who she was. She recognized a flaw in her character and realized that her new self was not her best self. This individual is a wonderful role model for our students and the change she decided to make in herself will definitely start a chain reaction of kindness among other individuals.
Rachel wrote about a theory she had. She stated that if a person shows compassion, it will start a chain reaction of kindness. A chain reaction of kindness or goodness will eventually involve an immeasurable amount of people, entities, and businesses. But first, the chain reaction must start with you, the individual. A random act of kindness has the potential to lift a discouraged head, to heal a broken heart, and to cheer a sad countenance. I believe each person has a responsibility to be kind to others.
We should be kind to everyone we come in contact with, but we should be exceptionally kind to our parents, siblings, children and spouse. Family is the basic unit of society. Families must endure the trials of life, if this is not true, what will happen to our society? I believe each parent, brother, sister, child, spouse, and friend deserves acts of kindness from the same. The old saying of do unto others as you would have them do unto you, stands true today.

Preguntas

Yo quiero saber si alguien quiere venir a la escuela para hablar conmigo sobre la acreditacion que vamos a tener la semana que viene. Yo quiero que cada pariente de Rawlins sepa que mi puerta esta abierto cada dia y que quiero escuchar a lo que usted esta pensando. Quiero ayudarles a todos ustedes de sentir que su voz esta oido. Por favor llamame a 328-9280 si tiene preguntas o si quiere visitarnos el miercoles que viene para la acreditacion. Gracias

Happy Thanksgiving

What a time to be alive! We have so much to be grateful for. Live brings us many challenges but also many blessings. People around us give us courage to go forward in this ever changing world. I am grateful for my family as they continually build me up. I am also grateful for the many great individuals that I associate with every schoolday. The teachers and faculty at Rawlins High School are wonderfully committed to educating the youth of Rawlins. The students have a great passion for learning and expanding their minds to greater achievements and opportunities that live has to offer. All of us at Rawlins High are grateful for the communty of Rawlins for supporting us through sporting events, fall concerts and plays, awards ceremonies, National Honor Society, school board meetings, and countless other activities. Thank you for all you do. Lastly, I am grateful to be at your service. My life is better because of it.

Welcome Back

With some blogspot glitches, and a new e-mail account I'm back in the blogging world. With the holiday season upon us, let's think about the most important people in our lives and the most important unit we belong to: families. My family is my life. I have a beautiful wife and three growing boys. We play together, we laugh together, and we struggle together. But we will never give up on each other. At Rawlins High School, we are also a family. We can never give up on each other. We are all in this together.