Life on the Lakefront
Coming up on senior graduation this year had a special meaning for me since my son will be graduating this year. I remember back to my own graduation. It is true that I was not the most popular kid in my graduating class but I did manage to get my pants down from the flagpole prior to graduation. I don’t think my own high school experience was as positive as my son’s has been. I was not really much of a leader in high school unless discovering new places to hide the teachers seat cushion before class counts as leadership.
Education however has always been important to me. Consider for a moment where we would be as a society without education. We would have no books, no television remote controls, and no sugar-drenched doughnuts. Yes, life would be very difficult. Imagine stumbling out of the cave every morning just in your loincloth and bare feet to pick up your paper, and discover just another drawing of a guy with a spear killing a mastodon, and another guy with a spear being drug off by his hair by a woman carrying a club. You would think to yourself, “Ugh,” because without education we would have no language.
I have watched my son progress through the public education system in Little Elm and have seen him have quite a number of learning experiences, mostly good experiences but some more difficult lessons as well. I believe public education does not always get the credit it is due, there are many very dedicated teachers and administrators trying to do what they feel is best to insure that students learn all they can. These educators deserve special recognition because despite obstacles in funding, and short sighted government regulations, such as TAKS but that is a matter best left for other times, they have succeeded in turning our well educated young people, who are better prepared for the world that we were at their age. So to those teachers and administrators, thank you for a stellar job. When I was in first grade the nuns at the Catholic school I attended would place a gold star on a person’s forehead for doing a good job. So to each of the teachers and administrators that have had a role in my son’s graduation, you deserve a gold star. And, to Mr. Baxter the high school principal, Mr. Felice the band director, and Mr. Warrick the Spanish teacher, two gold stars, please place them on your respective foreheads.
Lastly to the class of 2005, I wish to congratulate each student. Graduation from high school is a big deal to be celebrated fully. It is truly one of those passage moments in life where we transition to a new phase, possibly one of the most memorable. I had the pleasure of being a soccer coach for a group of boys from the time they were four until they were teenagers, a group that is graduating this year. I noticed three were among the top ten students, and of course I believe I am responsible, not really, the people really responsible were teachers who care and parents who were involved. This was a group who one season went undefeated and was not scored upon all season. It was not coaching; it was determination, a determination that will serve them well in life. Each of the graduates of 2005 seems to have that quality of determination.
So graduates, go get your pants down off the flagpole, and walk across that stage with pride, and then go whip the world. It really needs you, and some day it will be your picture on the front page of the paper with a spear in your hand killing a mastodon of your very on.
