Well this has certainly been an interesting few days. On Friday I was invited back to my old community to be recognized for their receipt of the Blue Ribbon School award, which was given for most of the time that I was still superintendent there. After having experienced West Genesee receiving the Blue Ribbon School here when I first arrived a few years ago it was nice to think about closing one chapter of my professional life there and opening and now living a very positive and "new" professional life here. What was also good for me personally was that I have been here long enough now that when I went back there some people did not know who I was. That was a good thing to experience. What have you done for me lately? still reigns supreme and I like it that way!
I was also surprised and humbled on Sunday night by being selected to receive the "Making IT Happen" award from the International Society for Technology in Education (@isteconnects) at the New York State Computers and Technology in Education (@nyscate10) conference in Rochester, New York. The nomination was made not only by members of our own school community, but by others across the state for helping to influence national and global changes to how we approach the use of technology in education here at West Genesee. Also imagine my surprise when I got to the podium and discovered that my "prize" was to wear a pink jacket and pink feather boa!
While I accepted the award, I did so on behalf of all of the staff and community members who have embraced technology, been willing to try new things, and have never strayed from the mission of helping students to be successful. A special thanks goes out to all who have followed on Twitter and read this blog because that exposure has helped us to reach out globally and since Sunday I have been able to create some new networks of people beyond the confines of the state.
Okay, waaay to much about me. People are going to think that I have one of those "big ego's" which I certainly hope I don't have. I just wanted to cover those two things in case you see them on the news so you didn't feel out of the loop!
Many of our students and staff have had some tremendous success recently in a variety of activities from cross country to bridge building, and everything in-between. Please take a moment to check out our website http://www.westgenesee.org/ for all of the exciting information.
Our Anti-Bullying Task Force is putting the finishing touches on a survey that we are going to administer to students in grades K-12 in the next couple of weeks. A letter will be going home explaining everything by the end of next week, and I want to thank members of the task force for being so generous with their time to help us advance our efforts.
Thanksgiving is just a few short days away and with that I want to give thanks to you again for your continued support. Without all of you our children would not be able to do as well as they have. Please enjoy the next few days with family and friends and I will write again early next week.
Chris
