“You can tell more about a
person by what he says about others, than you can by what others say about him.”
-- Leo Aikman
By Tommie Saylor
Kennedy High School Principal
This last weekend I traveled to
the Kalamazoo area and attended my 30th class reunion, Gobles High School class
of 1983. This was the first class reunion I have ever attended, and as a
result, I was able to visit with some of my old classmates.
For most people, this would be
a time of joy, an experience worth looking forward to having, yet I was very
apprehensive. I was apprehensive because high school was not exactly all that
fun for me. It was not torturous, but at the same time, it was not enjoyable. You
see, I was the principal’s kid in high school. As the principal’s kid, I was
treated differently than all the other students.
Even though I was a starting
lineman on the football team for all four years of high school, I never really
fit into the “jocks” group. I guess they were concerned that I would tell my
dad about all the mischievous actions in which they engaged. Even though I was
a member of both the marching and symphonic band, I never really fit into the
“band” group. Likewise, though I graduated near the top of my class, I did not
fit in with the “brains” group, and I was not one of the “cool” kids. I
certainly was not a “teacher’s pet” with my father being their boss.
In short, I was basically an
outcast, one of those students who hung around the edges of high school society
looking in.
But what did I discover back
then? A group of other students that were just like me. Soon I became the
unofficial leader of a group of misfit students that reminded me of the
children’s Christmas cartoon Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the island of
misfit toys. I happened to fall into a group of misfit students, or perhaps we
were more like the movie Revenge of the Nerds, and I was the character Lewis,
king of the Nerds.
Either way, I found a group
that accepted me as me, and did not care that I was the principal’s kid.
From this group I learned some
very valuable lifelong lessons. I learned that everyone has value. I learned
that every living soul has something to contribute to the human race. I learned
that every person, by nothing more than being alive, deserves basic human
respect and to be treated with dignity. I learned that by trying to diminish
the value of any one of us, we diminish the value of us all.
I learned that everyone has the
right to be heard, that we all deserve the right to simply be who we are – that
we are all equals, and that no person “stands” above the next. Simply,
when I left high school, I walked away with more than just a basic working
knowledge of Math, Science, English and Social Studies; I walked away with a
greater understanding of what it means to be human.
Why did I tell you this story? Well,
as we are gearing up for another school year, I want to remind everyone the
importance of getting to know your students, the importance of forming good
positive relationships with your students. Without even realizing it, you
may very well become the most important person in the life of one of your
students. That student that always sits in the back of the class, that never
really talks to anyone, that seems uncomfortable around others and a little
standoffish, is silently screaming for attention and waiting for someone to show
him that they care.
Teachers need to be that
someone.
As for my reunion: My old
friends and I sat back in the corner of the room and had a nice visit.
But we could not help noticing that almost all of the popular kids in
school never really went very far in life. Around the table that I sat
were CPAs, CEOs, CFOs, corporate vice-presidents … and a school administrator.
Remember, their future is in
our hands. Making Kennedy the school of choice. Excellence by design…
