Curiosity

A decade ago, NASA landed a robot on the surface of Mars. The 6-wheeled, 1900-pound device was named Curiosity and over the past ten years, it has been sending back pictures and information to us on Earth in its effort to determine if and when there may have been water on the surface of Mars and if there had been life there swimming in it. It continues to travel over mountains and through craters to collect data as we learn more about the planet closest to our own. 

I recently picked up a book about the engineering marvel that led to the Curiosity rover getting to Mars and found that our own story shared some parallels with the mission. While we don't have the need for rocket scientists and the development of a sky crane to get our jobs done, the level of teamwork, reliance on others and adjustment to meet our goals sounded very similar. Undoubtedly, over the years, I've approached many of you under the guise of my own curiosity about how we approach a problem or look for growth. I probably even used the word. But the thing that I love the most is that ten years later, Curiosity is still looking, still assessing data, and still searching for more. 

If there is one trait that I hope all leaders in a school have, it's curiosity. Students, teachers, counselors, principals, and district leaders all need to remain curious about what we can do next. Curiosity leads us to discover something we may never have found and those discoveries lead to more growth. And growth is what we are all about. So stay curious teacher leaders, but more importantly, follow your curiosity and inspire students to do the same. You never know what you might find.