New Year Reflections
January 8, 2010

Good morning everyone.  Welcome back and Happy New Year.  I hope that you had a good holiday and, like me, I hope that you had lots of time to enjoy the company of friends and family.

This is,of course the time of year when many of us make New Year’s resolutions – when we develop goals through which we hope to improve ourselves and become better people.  Sometimes we keep our New Year’s resolutions, and sometimes we don’t.  Nevertheless, I’ve always felt that it is a worthwhile process.  It causes us to do some serious self-reflection, as we focus our attention on how we can more fully realize our potential and, in the words of our Vision statement, better the world around us. 

When I look back on my teenage years, my main regret is that I lacked confidence, and that all too often I pulled back from doing new things because I was afraid of failure, or of looking silly.  That’s why I never auditioned for a school play or tried out for a school team.  Shakespeare must have been thinking of my teenage years when he wrote the following in Act 1, Scene 4 of Measure to Measure:

Our doubts are traitors, and make us
lose the good we oft might win,
by fearing to attempt.

In my later years I worked hard to overcome these inhibitions.  However, like many of you, I sometimes still struggle with a fear of failure or of looking silly. 

As we begin a new year and indeed a new decade, let’s set aside some time for self-reflection, and let’s try to establish some goals that take us outside of our comfort zone; goals that involve an element of risk or the possibility of failure, and that force us to stretch ourselves as we aspire to become better people.  In my own professional life I know that I can be a better teacher, a better administrator and a better leader. 

The same principle applies to all of you.  If you’re a teacher, take the risk of trying out a new instructional strategy or assessment tool, or to develop a new assignment, module or unit.  If you’re a student, take the risk of trying out a new co-curricular activity, whether it is in the arts, athletics, leadership or service.  Put your heart and soul into your academics – do the very best that you can, and take on more personal responsibility for your own learning.  It’s all about self-reflection, setting goals, establishing high expectations, taking risks, being resilient, making the commitment, and persevering when you encounter challenges.  As my own father told me more than 40 years ago when he was encouraging me to be more:  “There is no failure except in no longer trying.” 

Have a great year, everyone, and a wonderful decade!