Perspective

As we prepare to begin a new school year, I was reminded this past weekend of the importance in maintaining a perspective on what is really important in education, and in working with young people.

My 9 year old daughter played on the west side of the state this weekend in her first travel soccer tournament. This was a major event for her, and the first time she had participated in a sporting event of this magnitude - traveling across the state, staying in a hotel, and competing against girls she didn't know, from places of which she's never heard. The evening before the tournament, we overheard a conversation between my daughter and her younger sister. Her younger sister asked her, with all of the 7 year old innocence in the world, if she was more excited about going to the tournament to win, or swimming in the hotel pool with her friends. My little soccer player responded, "It's not about winning - it's about having fun". We couldn't have been more proud...

As we begin this new year, there will be literally hundreds of classes and sporting events each semester. We sometimes have a tendency to forget that learning, competing, and performing are all supposed to be fun. At North this year we will have an emphasis on project based learning. We truly believe that learning should be fun, competing and performing should be fun, and school in general should be fun. As the school year progresses, I want students and parents alike to communicate with our staff and administrative team about the experiences you are having. Our goal is to truly make the learning experience the best one possible for each individual.

School might not be as fun as swimming in a hotel pool with your friends, but 21st century focused, project based learning that engages every student can be a close second (o.k. - maybe not second, but we can still make it a great experience!!)...