One Headlight

The death of a Greene Central graduate, Travis Foyles, this week has impacted several students and teachers. Travis graduated last year, and while he wasn't perfect, he was incredibly likable. Travis was friendly with everyone. He was funny and always good spirited. The loss of someone like him can be tough on adults and students. His death reminded me when I lost a very good friend when I was 13. It 's a tough thing to process for a teenager. Around the same time I lost my friend, The Wallflowers released a song entitled One Headlight about the loss of the lead singer's friend. The loss of a friend is like driving home with one headlight. You're just hoping to make it through.

Travis had many friends that are still students. Among them was his girlfriend, a senior. I had the opportunity to speak with her and her family yesterday afternoon. Despite the tough time, they wanted to let me know how great the students of Greene Central had been. Many of them had visited the house and even stayed the night with her to make sure that she was ok. They were simply amazed at the show of support.

I spend a lot of time talking about instruction that leads to student success. Student learning is ultimately why we are here. Sometimes we do a good job with that and sometimes we struggle. Something that we do exceptionally well, that will never show up on any test, is growing good people. The events of this week highlight how great our school community can be. The 900 young adults that attend school here learn how to be good people from you and their families and you're doing a great job at that. While we may not ever be able to see it in scores, please keep working hard at teaching students the value of character education. We never know when they may need to help someone make it through a tough time.