Happy Labor Day weekend! I hope you all had a great, restful weekend. I was able to catch the UNI ISU football game in Ames. While the Cyclones were able to steal one from my Panthers, it was a great game. Former Eagle Dan Kruger did a nice job for the Panthers.
Things in the high school continue to go well. We will begin our third full week on Tuesday. Grade books are starting to have some scores in them and you can see how your son or daughter is progressing with our on line access. Success Center is up and going. I have had some students in and made some phone calls. Please remember that this is available each night from 3:30 to 4:30.
If any of you caught Coach Sanger's speech at the scrimmage, he mentioned Coach Ed Thomas from Aplington Parkersburg and his advice to "Do the right thing!" I had the pleasure of having Coach Thomas as one of my instructors when I received my coaching endorsement in college. As a football coach, I attended several clinics where Coach Thomas spoke. He has been very influential to me. This week I read his biography, The Sacred Acre, which outlines Coach Thomas' life while going through the details of the tornado in Parkersburg, the rebuilding process and Coach Thomas' unfortunate death. Weaved through the book are lessons and quotes from a great man, who was more than a football coach. Although I was pretty familiar with the story, this book really made me think about the things that are important. Coach Thomas was a teacher, a mentor, an inspiration and a man of God, while also having some pretty good success as a football coach. He saw himself as someone who was preparing his students and players to be good parents, husbands and wives and citizens, while learning about social studies and football. He regularly said "If all I taught you was how to block and tackle, then I have failed you as a coach."
Our job at West Hancock is to prepare our students to be the best people they can be when they leave our school. In academics, extra curricular activities and personal relationship skills, we are preparing them to be successful citizens in all areas of their lives. Together with parents, the community and the students themselves, we are trying to get better every day. This is a team effort and we all need to work together. One of Coach Thomas's simple pieces of advice was to "Do the right thing." We all hopefully know the difference between right and wrong. They key is making the right choice. This is something we want all of our students to know. This year our theme is simple "There are two things you can control every day - your attitude and your effort!" These things are choices - I hope we can get as many of our students and staff as possible to choose to have great attitudes and give extra effort. If we can do that, we will be successful.
The Sacred Acre is available through several book stores. I would encourage anyone to read it. It is very interesting and has some great life lessons. I purchased my personal copy on Amazon. I have also purchased a copy of The Sacred Acre for the school, which our family will donate to the library at West Hancock. Please encourage your child to check it out. It is an easy read and very powerful.
Laptop Covers - We handed out laptop covers this week. If students showed us that they had a cover or bag we did not issue them one. Everyone else received a cover. Please know that whether it is your cover, our cover or no cover; the student is still responsible for the computer.
Advisory update - This week we discussed peer tutoring. We are looking at piloting a peer tutor program at West Hancock. Students were given sheets with two sides. One side was an application to be a peer tutor. The other side was an application to get help from a tutor. Students also put study hall times or times they could be involved. If students are interested, we will match up tutors with students desiring tutoring. Teachers are always available for help, we just felt this might be another avenue to get help for those wanting extra help. Please speak with your child about this. The applications are due back on Friday.
Have a great week!
Schedule for the week:
Monday - Labor Day - No School
Tuesday - XC @ BK - 4:15
JV FB - H - Garner Hayfield - 6:30
VB - H - Garner Hayfield - 6:00
Wednesday - Athletic Booster Club Meeting - 5:30
Thursday - VB - Newman - H - 6:00
Friday - FB - Gehlen - H - 7:00
