An Unusual Gift

I'm not too proud to admit that this whole Principal of the Year thing has started to weigh on me a bit. Maybe it's the added responsibilities and expectations, the nights away from home, or the guilt I feel being away from my real job and knowing that others are having to pick up the slack. Maybe it's all of that combined that's kept me running full speed and feeling like I'm always behind. Last Sunday morning I woke up at 5:00 am, made breakfast, did a few things around the house, and packed a bag to go to Washington, DC for a conference. I didn't want to go. I even tried to cancel the plane ticket the night before, but it was too late. Halfway to Raleigh, I debated turning around and just losing the cost of the ticket. At the time $450 seemed like a fair trade for some sanity. Perhaps I should explain why I didn't want to go. This was a national advocacy conference and when I agreed to go and meet with our state's legislators in DC, I didn't know that I was the only one from North Carolina attending. Every other state had teams of people and I just wasn't feeling like taking on another thing. 

Nonetheless, I got on the plane and landed in DC. It was lunch and breakfast was a long time ago, so PF Chang's in the airport sounded great at the time. The fortune cookie at the end of the meal read, "You will soon receive an unusual gift that you will greatly appreciate." It made me laugh and so I took a picture of it just in case something strange came my way. I made it to the hotel, checked in, and decided that I wasn't going to waste the day so I got an Uber to take me to the Smithsonian American History Museum. It should have been a 19-minute ride, but apparently, all traffic in DC locked up the exact moment I entered the car, and my driver, Mohamed, and I were stuck together for 1 hour and 20 minutes before arriving. I literally jumped out of the car in the middle of the street versus making him fight for a place to park. The moment my feet hit the street I heard someone yell my name. It was Susan Harrison. So much for not knowing anyone on this trip I thought to myself. After a quick chat, I made my way through the American History Museum and the Natural History Museum. I've been to both several times, but I see something new each time. 

So now, how to get back to the hotel? The streets were just as packed as before and the previous $16 Uber

ride was now $55 and an extensive wait to get to you. My thought was to start walking toward the hotel and when I got to a less crowded place, reassess the Uber. 4.6 miles to the hotel and Google Maps said it would take 90 minutes. I passed the Washington Monument and through the cherry blossoms in full bloom at the Jefferson Memorial. I've never seen them in person this time of year and it was incredible. There was also a kite festival and hundreds of kites could be seen throughout the National Mall. With the streets still packed I made it to the Potomac River and crossed it with 2.5 miles to go. Might as well keep going since the Uber can't get me on a bridge. The walkway led me to the airport and along a park trail that I had run with a college friend over a decade ago. In jeans and a hoodie, I wasn't quite prepared for a run, but it was a great memory. When I reached a less crowded street in Arlington, Virginia there was only a mile and a half left. Why not just finish it. I arrived at the hotel in exactly 1 hour and 20 minutes. The same time that the Uber ride there had taken. 

I'm not sure if that fortune cookie had spiritual powers or if I was looking for some type of modern transcendental moment (my English teacher would love that I remember that) but I got that unusual gift that the cookie told me I would get. I got an afternoon where I was absolutely forced to slow down. It was great. So great that I highly recommend it to you. We talked a lot about wellness during COVID due to stress in education, but stress happens all of the time to everyone. So with Spring Break on the horizon, I urge you to please, take a moment and appreciate it. In the words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it."

What Will the New Greene Central Look Like?

This week started the first real design discussions for the planning of the new Greene Central High School. On Wednesday, our Leadership Team and a couple of students met along with board members, commissioners, and other community officials to talk about the vision that the architects will use to create the site plan and the initial design. I had no idea what to expect from this process and when we got into it, I was completely hooked. The whole thing didn't begin with pictures or layouts as you would expect. It began with a brainstorming session. We threw out words and phrases to capture what was important to us. Safe was the overwhelming winner. Everyone wanted a modern facility that honored our past while being prepared for the future. They wanted spaces for advanced learning and spaces that were welcoming to the community. They wanted a secure facility that didn't look or feel like a prison. They wanted outdoor community spaces that doubled as learning spaces. With all of that information, the job now is to capture what those needs look like. But really they are capturing what they feel like. It's easy to get caught up in needs and wants, but the work this week reminded me that places like schools also have to capture how they make you feel. Our current school has done that for many generations in the past. You'd be surprised how often I hear references about it from parents and graduates that haven't been here in a while. I'll admit that I've been nervous that we can't meet everyone's desires and stay within a budget for building a new school. I don't want anyone to feel left out or forgotten. So while not everyone will get everything they want, my hope is that we still capture that feeling that is uniquely ours. So what will the new Greene Central look like, I don't know yet. But this week taught me that it's more important to ask how it will make us feel. 

An Anecdote for Dr. Willis

I often use stories as metaphors in my writings. With the announcement this week that Dr. Willis would be taking on the role of principal at Greene County Intermediate School, I thought back to the many stories that I had about her over the years. I hired Uvonda Willis 13 years ago as an English teacher in Pitt County. At the time, the graduation project was still a state requirement and I gave her all of the Seniors that had not been successful in Engish 4 or on the project specifically. She worked with some tough kids and had a daunting task, but she did a great job reaching them. She could often be found teaching without shoes on and used her planning periods to run around and find mentors and other resources to support her kids. After I came to Greene County, she had been hired on as an assistant principal in that school. When I had an opportunity to hire an assistant principal here, she was the only person I really wanted to interview. I called her and paced around in my yard as I tried to sell her on my vision of what the school could be and how she could help us get there. Since then, she's been my right hand. She has pushed me to think and grow, protected me when I needed to focus on myself, and been a sounding board when I needed to figure out difficult problems. Through all of the things that we have been through, conversations we have had, and wild plans that we have made (we probably should revisit some of those), there are a ton of stories that I could tell. So how do you choose? What metaphor do you want to tell about someone that has contributed so much to you personally and professionally? What does that story need to convey?

The answer is that this isn't a good story, it's an anecdote. There's a difference between a story and an anecdote. A story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. In a good story, you don't see the end coming at the beginning. But an anecdote is predictable. You know how it will end right from the start. That's why I think the story of my sister Uvonda is an anecdote. From the start, I knew that the day would come when she would get the opportunity to develop her own vision and lead her own school. Fortunately, I was able to be there to see the beginning of this predictable tale and of those of you that have been here since she arrived, you've seen that beginning as well. So rather than tell a story, I'll celebrate this anecdote. We all knew that this day would come and I couldn't be more proud of her. We will miss her leadership, her creativity, and her ability to find resources outside of our building to make things work. In the end, I think it will be better becasue she can pour those skills into the students that come to us, and for that, I am grateful. So in the time left, I'll keep the stories that we have shared as great memories and I'll celebrate the anecdote that I always saw coming.