We officially started school, or at least preparations for school, this week. (Now, now, all of you who have been in school for two weeks and are screaming at me because our students do not start for another week and a half, don't hate the player; hate the game.) We have been discussing on our vision, our desire to help our students become positive world changers. I am excited for the year. Football is in full swing as we near the end of the first week of two-a-days, and despite the heat, our young men have been pushing themselves, sweating, bleeding; they have impressed me with their efforts and their attitudes as we begin the quest to defend the title. On the field and inside the yet unfinished schoolhouse walls, I am blessed to work with some truly fine people, both students and colleagues. Let me repeat: I am blessed.
Positive World Changers. That may seem like a lofty goal. "Just get them readin' and writin' and figurin' right, and that will be enough," some might say. I say you are short-changing our young people if you take that approach. Positive World Changers. When we begin discussing that goal, that vision, we can hold up many fine young people who have taken their experiences at BHS and begun to make an impact on the world. Students who have aided charities in creating educational opportunities and clean water sources in Nepal or who have traveled to Central America to build homes for those in need. These are terrific examples, but I sat here last night and wondered if they were the best examples. I do not want to in any way diminish the extraordinary things those individuals and group achieve; they are amazing and should be celebrated. However, I was pleased to hear a colleague mention today that we need to celebrate those young people who change the world one person, one smile, one encouraging word at a time. Those who impact and influence those around them, those who lead those with wide eyes to be just like them. When I think of positive world changers, I think of those special young men and women who change the world in their way, in the way that best fits them. So many kids have passed through our walls who have made and will continue making those positive world changes.
There is a young man currently completing his training to become a paramedic. My brother is in the profession, and he knows about this young man because of me and because he has watched enough Crusader football to recognize some of the players I talk about. He asks about him when he speaks to the man in charge where this man is training, and he is doing well. While I hope to never see him in his professional role, I can honestly say that if I need emergency assistance, I want his face to be the one I see, or that my family sees. He will be amazing, partly because of his intelligence and dedication, more because of his character and caring. He is a family man, and was long before he met the girl he will marry and begin his own family. He is a positive world changer.
There is a young women who impressed me on a daily basis as she grew up from a freshman to a senior and now beyond. Do you know what she did to change the world, top change my world and the worlds of so many of her classmates? She was herself. She was a genuinely happy and sincere young lady who looked at a person when they spoke, unless that person was speaking about her, at which point she would look down, embarrassed to hear someone compliment her. She smiled as much as possible, and her bright outlook was contagious. She once called a bus driver at home one evening because she was concerned about him after there had been an accident in which a teen driver ran into the back of the bus. She helped students in class when they struggled, not to show she was bright, but because she wanted those around her to succeed. Humble, caring, and sincere, combined with intelligent, thoughtful, and compassionate can be a powerful mix. She was and will continue to be a positive world changer.
Sometimes it is even smaller, or seemingly so. Once, a student in my class was struggling emotionally, as sometimes tends to happen. She was supposed to present to my class upon returning from lunch, but as she stood up, she was unable to contain her tears.Something had happened in the cafeteria, and it had hit her quite hard. She left the room, with me a few steps behind. I walked back into the classroom a moment later, and she followed shortly after. Before anyone could speak, a girl from the back of the room boldly said, "Hey, I would really rather go first if I could Mr. Kohls, if she doesn't mind. That would be better for me" As she stood up, she continued, "There a seat at my table if you want to sit here." She then walked to the podium. She changed the world that day in less than 15 seconds. It may not have been a global action, but in that little world that is my classroom, she changed our world by being an example and a light. She was trying to change the world, but she was a positive world changer.
I could keep going with example after example. This year, I am sure I will will be amazed again by the people I am blessed to work with. I only hope I can live up to my end of the bargain to help give them a truly exceptional educational experience, to give them everything I can to aid them as they go from our little world into the wider one, that big, scary one, and do their thing. I am ready to go.
Let's change the world.
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