When Thank You Isn't Enough to Convey Gratitude...

Yesterday was quite a day! In a typical day in the life of a principal, the range of emotions can be unbelievable. One minute you are laughing at something darling that a child said, five minutes later you might be dealing with an angry parent. Then a staff member may come in with a personal difficulty that you listen to and empathize with. Two students will be in a fight and you must deal with that issue. So in the course of an hour you may go from laughing, to sternness, to.........

Well yesterday was definitely that kind of day. In this post I am only going to talk about what in incredible day it was for me. The morning started when our wonderful student newscasters, Riley and Briley, announced on the morning news that I had been named Gilbert Education Foundation Administrator of the Year. I had found out about this award about a week ago. The students in my school had all written a word to describe me and made a "wordle" for me. A wordle takes all of the words and mixes them together to make word art. The really cool thing about it is that it takes the words that are used the most and makes them stand out more. I had never seen one before. Then they invited each class in our school to send their two best huggers to the office to give me a hug. In the next few minutes, I was visited by about 50 kids and got the best hugs. I was so touched by this. Thank you, Riley, Briley, Cade, and Tom!!!!
Last night was the Gilbert Education Foundation dinner where the awards were given out. My wonderfully supportive family was there and I thank them for being there with me. Teresa, Judy, Glennie, Kerri, Yaya, Pat, Cecilia and Jay were all there. It meant a lot to me. Thank you, Judy, for paying for everyone.Two of my wonderful teacher friends were also there, Dottie and Carol. They had written nomination letters for me and Dottie put them all together in a wonderful scrapbook. I had not read them until this morning--I don't know what to say. Thank you, Dottie, Carol, Barb, Louise, Kathy, Nurse Barb, Shirley, Heather, Shannon, and Dolores for the letters you wrote. I will cherish them forever!!
I was honored along with two colleagues in the district--one teacher and one support staff. I couldn't think of anyone better to get an honor with than Sherry Hornby from our district testing department. Sherry is one of the nicest human beings that you would ever want to be around. She is at Gilbert El quite often as she participates in our Tiger Buddy mentoring program. She is a wonderful mentor to a student each year and always goes above and beyond. Thank you, Sherry, for all that you do!

The Gilbert Education Foundation has given financial assistance to many of our families at Gilbert El over the past several years. They have been generous and have always given when I have called. I feel so honored to have been chosen by them for this award. Thank you to Darcey, Shane, Jeff and everyone associated with the Foundation!!!

Something else happened yesterday that I think says everything about what being an educator is all about as far as I am concerned. I am going to give a little background first. There is a mom at our school who has terminal cancer. She has two elementary age children, a high school daughter, and a four year old son. This is their first year at our school. They have no family in the area. Our social worker and nurse and our parent liaison have gone above and beyond for this family, as have several of the teachers and parents in the children's classrooms. Above and beyond doesn't even begin to explain what they have done. Last weekend, one of our teachers, Nancy, arranged to have her daughter-in-law who is a photographer, take pictures of the family so that the children would have a lasting gift of their mom. Jan, another teacher, took mom to get her hair done for the photo shoot. I am putting the link to the blog so that you can see these beautiful pictures and read what Tami wrote on her blog. I can guarantee that it will bring tears to your eyes. Here is the site: www.tamiproffitt.blogspot.com It is the post for Sunday, April 19.

About noon, I walked out of my office and saw a deputy sheriff come in the door with what looked like an envelope in her hand. There was a lot of activity in the office right then so she waited patiently. I stood out there for a minute to see why she was there as law enforcement visits aren't always "fun." I heard her tell Cris that she went to Gilbert El as a child and that her mother had died when she was 10. She told Cris that everyone had been so kind to her when her mom died and she has always remembered that kindness. She went on to explain to Cris that she had found out about the mom with terminal cancer from Tami's blog and she asked about what school it was. When she found out it was Gilbert El, she wanted to do something. So she handed Cris the envelope and said that it was for the family. When Cris asked her name, she said she didn't want to give it. She just wanted to give back because of how she had been treated as a child. In the envelope were five $20 bills....

This says it all to me and the fact that it happened yesterday....... This just confirms my belief that what we as educators do each day makes such a profound impact in so many, many ways and in ways we may never know.

I am very grateful that I have the job that I do, at the school where I am, with the teachers, staff, and students that I work with each and every day. Thank you just doesn't seem to be enough to convey all of my emotions, but I will say it anyway...........

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!