THE MAGICAL PLACE WE CALL SCHOOL
By Kathleen Corley
With Glenn Plaskin
Fenway (Left) and Wrigley (Right)
Students all grown up walk through our hallways to cheers from students and staff just before the walk across the stage to get their high school diplomas.
Above is an end of a tradition. The staff always plays the fifth graders in kickball. After we won every year for about eight years, we got those tee shirts. They had remained accurate for 14 years until this one. The fifth graders were over the moon about beating us, hence the crude deletion of the “un” at the beginning of that treasured word. We had students do that to our shirts on the spot.
My last day of school attire never fails to stop traffic.
Why so many pictures of the garden? There are two reasons. It's peaceful, serene, and I can see that the work I've done has made positive changes. (I'm counting all of that as reason #1.) The second reason is that it relates very well to what I do at school each day. In both the garden and at school, certain things need to happen in certain ways. But there are surprises too; sometimes within the boundaries of our planning, and sometimes not so much. And those not-so-much times might turn out more beautifully than those we have meticulously planned.
Four times a year, I write a few sentences (or paragraphs) on 650 report cards in my lanai garden before they go out to parents. I have done it every year I have been a principal. I like for the students to know that I am paying attention, and notice their good work, while reminding them that they can do anything.