“There’s just something about education that I truly love when it brings out the best in young people.”
There are all kinds of different stories that line could start for me and most definitely lead into great stories about what we do at Springfield High School. But I just wanted to share a brief story of the many students who were willing to give up a free day to be mentors and do something to better their school and community. Mentoring is always so impactful to young people and the mentor day itself is always amazing to me.
Each year the high school starts with a new mentor day designed to invite all the freshmen students, and anyone new to the district, to come in and get a guided look around our building. Basically, we show them all the good things that are going on at Springfield High School and introduce them to the amazing people who will impact the next four years of their life. To do that though, you have to have great kids who are willing to share their experience and tell people, well, all the good things that go on in our high school.
This year, as usual, we had an enormous amount of mentors. But I want you again to think about the fact that these kids give up a free day. They get nothing for it other than the satisfaction of helping a young person transition to high school. Throughout the day each mentor gives tours, shares stories and leads activities, all for the betterment of their school. Mrs. Wcislek, one of our English teachers, is one of the most amazing people for organizing this each year. I’m always so impressed with all the activities that she creates and keeps the mentors wanting to come back year after year.
To that end, I want to say thank you to all the student body who we’re mentors this year. What a great experience to kick off the year.
