Yes Waiting to Happen

The dog days of summer are upon us. High school sports practices are in full swing. College dorms are beginning to fill up. School supplies rule the entrances to our favorite stores. Children are restless with anticipation of the first day of school. Across college campuses, faculty and staff begin to prepare for the new semester. Regardless of what level of education you teach at, your preparation and planning have surely started prior to your first official day back! As the new school starts, we must all be reminded how pivotal of a role we play in our communities, our schools, our students' lives, and our very own futures.

Over the last several days my college has kicked off the new semester with our 'Success 1st Summit' fall in-service. Our college president talked about having purpose, potential, and play as keys to staying motivated at work. Our keynote speaker, Genyne Edwards, JD, gave an excellent message about the key to charting a vision of persistence "starts with YOU - you are the one you've been waiting for!" Through this time, I've sat back and pondered how can anyone working in education prepare for the new school year? What message do we all need to hear?

For some reason, my mind keeps coming back to one main theme - CONNECTIONS! As human beings, we long to be connected to others...our teachers, our colleagues, our friends...we desire to know that we matter in the lives of others. Education is no different - perhaps connections are even far more important!

Working at a technical college, our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds with a wide variety of skills. Yet, the students that succeed and persist to graduate will all tell you they had a mentor that believed in them and their potential to succeed. Each and every graduate was connected to someone at the college that pushed them, encouraged them, believed in them, and dared them to be great!

Here's my challenge to anyone working in education as you start the new year. Ask yourself what are you going to do to connect with students? What are you going to do to support the student that doesn't believe in themselves? How can you encourage the doubter? How will you be their yes waiting to happen?

As author and speaker Angela Maiers so passionately believes, "You Matter". Every student needs to not only believe they matter, they must feel like they matter to someone. You have the potential to help a student believe they matter...are you up for the challenge?