Feeling Special

Today is the big day that our special needs students wait for all year. At 10:00 am we kick off the 2018 Special Olympics and some of Greene County's favorite students get to have the time of their lives. While the focus is certainly on them, I am always impressed with the work of those that organize and run the event. From the district's organizers down to the student helpers, servant leadership abounds. I am also impressed with how humble each and every person that serves on this day can be. No one wants any credit or fanfare. That's tough for me as I help open the games because not one person seems to want to be acknowledged or thanked. Not one moment of the spotlight is taken from our athletes. That's what the day is about. Not being special, but feeling special.

Everyone enjoys feeling special in some way or another. We like being appreciated. It's just like having an extra birthday. There are so many people within schools, who come to work with the task of making others feel special about being here and doing their job. When I think of that task, I often think of our assistant principals. So much of what they do involves getting the best out of our students and staff. When those groups feel special, the school just runs better. And much like the volunteers that run our Special Olympics, assistant principals are humble. The spotlight doesn't belong on them as much as it belongs on the school and the people within it. In fact, if they do their job well, they get no credit for what they do.

Making people feel special keeps them working as a part of any organization. It gets the best out of them because they feel like they belong. That's true of everyone from the leaders in a school to the teachers that work for their students to succeed and for every student in every class. Feeling special helps us all. Today please remember to thank those people that make you feel special and to do your best to pass that on to someone else. We all deserve it.