If you have a child who is entering 6th grade, 9th grade, or is ready to leave the home for college, you are living on the transition roller coaster. As I spoke to our incoming 9th grade parents and students last evening, my wife was attending a rising 6th grade transition meeting as well. Transitions, no matter how large or small, always cause a little anxiety and discomfort for students and parents. Human beings are wired to be cautious when we make any decision that we believe will have a lasting ramification and impact our lives. Even as we go through our adult lives, transitions can cause some anxiety, hesitation and fear. Even after serving as a middle school principal for four years and after teaching at the high school level for many years before that, the thought of my twins entering middle school is causing me some trepidation. Knowing that it’s an irrational fear of making a bad decision for my girls, I also know that it is normal feeling. I was talking with five West Ridge eighth graders after our 9th Grade Transition Meeting last night. These are fabulous young ladies who excel in all areas. As we talked, it became apparent that they had some reservations about this new experience known as high school. My thought for the week is that transitions may cause us to over analyze our current situation and under value how well we will handle new situations. Transitions challenge our self-confidence as the discomfort settles in. As we transition and make new decisions, we may need to adopt the attitude of Tigger. This was a reminder my mom had hanging in her classroom as an elementary teacher for over twenty years. We will all make it through these times if we remember to believe in ourselves.
Over the last week, we have had some major successes in some of our programs. Our swim and diving teams have qualified for the state meet, our Mary Poppins musical was phenomenal, our cheerleaders are competing for a national championship this weekend, and students are competing at the Texas Music Educators’ Association for all state recognition. These are all major accomplishments, and we would like to thank our coaches, directors and parents for the support and dedication to these programs. Success takes hard work. These are just a few of our achievements during this year, which is based on one of our major beliefs: that when the proper hard work becomes fun, success will follow! It's always a great day to be a Chaparral!
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Steve Ramsey: WHS Principal BlogPrincipal's Weekly Reflections Archives
May 2019
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