Making a Difference Every Day

It's been a while since I updated the old blog post, and something happened at Henley last week that I felt really encapsulated what we try to do as educators.  I walked into the office at the end of lunch duty on Friday to be surprised by two former students.  These were kids that almost everyone in school knew, but sometimes not for the best reasons.  They were each English language learners and they also had many other hurdles to get over, both inside and outside of school, in order to be successful.  They each struggled to maintain positive behavior at school and to succeed academically.  They were the kinds of kids that could push you to your limits sometimes, but that still found a spot in your heart because we all knew that at their core, they were good kids.  When they moved out of the state last year, none of us thought that we were likely to see them again.

Needless to say, it was quite a surprise when they showed up in the office last Friday.  It turns out their dad had some business that he needed to take care of in town, and that he was just here for the day.  Even though their dad had a full plate of things to do last Friday, both of these students insisted that he bring them by Henley so that they could see three of their former teachers.  Think about what that says about the relationship these three teachers developed with both of these kids.  They are in town for one day, which was undoubtedly a busy one for their father, and could have easily never have given Henley a second thought.  But these teachers touched their lives in such a remarkable way that they had to come by and say hello.  That’s what it’s all about isn’t it?  The reason we all got into this job in the first place?  The reason we put in the extra time to make sure our students know that we care?  It made my day to see how happy those students were to be back at Henley for just a little while to reconnect.  

The thing that makes this story even better, is that I know that similar situations could take place with any one of our teachers here at Henley.  Our ability to make an impact on students' lives is profound, and is not something that we should take lightly.  We do make a difference each and every day with all of the children we work with.  Most of the time, we never get to see just how much we mean to our students like we did last Friday, but just one experience like this one justifies all of the hours of work, the sleepless nights, and the time away from our own families that all of our teachers sacrifice for the students at Henley.  I am proud to be a part of what we have going on here, and feel incredibly blessed to work with such a dedicated group of educators.