TOMMIE SAYLOR: If you want success, find the answer to 'Why?'

“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential…  these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.”

-- Confucius

By Tommie Saylor

Kennedy High School Principal

Winning and success comes from within. It comes from internal fortitude, passion and a burning desire that makes the difference between winning and losing, success and failure. A certain amount of skill – event talent – can make a difference. But if properly motivated, even the most untalented individual can acquire the knowledge, skill, experience and even aptitude necessary to master anything.

The one thing that cannot be taught, learned and externally acquired is the motivation to reach success. It is the craving that pushes you toward success. 

There must be a “Why?” It’s the reason to get out of bed in the morning.  It’s the reason that drives us and keeps us going when times get tough.  It’s what precipitates change. It allows us to grow. It urges us to succeed and to win.

Finding a student’s “Why?” is a big part of the educational process, the Relevance portion of the Three R’s.  For most students, they go to school because for as long as they can remember, that is what they have always done. 

School is a way of life, something they do because they are told that they must.  For these students, they are not overly motivated to work hard, do well and/or take the harder classes.  As educators we need to take the time to get to know these students, to explain to them why they must attend school and to show them that school is the gateway to their future.

After all, school is the bridge that gets them from where they are to where they want to be. We need to help them find the “Why?” and then these students will transform themselves into highly motivated, eager young minds. 

For most students, it's the difference between an “A” effort and a “D.” It’s the clear goal of what awaits them beyond our halls.

How and where will you lead them. Making Kennedy the school of choice. Excellence by design.