Celebration of Students
Source/Author: Mike Murphy, Headmaster
October 27, 2017
First and foremost, let’s recognize good people. Let’s celebrate the child who models the Five Core Values: Responsibility, Respect, Integrity, Knowledge and Compassion. Acknowledge the person who tries hard, works well with others, supports those around him/her and is striving to improve what happens on a daily basis with personal comments, smiles, and nods from parents, guardians, teachers, and peers. These are the people we want as friends, classmates, and co-workers. Ideally, they are the people we all strive to be.
It is hard to take a photo of that child in action, but we all have a picture of that child in our brains. Citizenship awards may come to that child, but in most cases the external award is not all that important. The student is good because that is who he/she has become.
We take great pride in recognizing and celebrating students for their academic success. The Class of 2017 has 5 National Merit Semi-Finalists and 5 more Commended scholars. For a class of 73 students, that is a very high percentage. Very smart students who score well on the SAT have a positive impact on their classmates.
We celebrate students who enroll and thrive at their colleges and universities. It is one thing to be accepted to a highly competitive university; it is another thing to do well and enjoy the experience once one is there. I was thrilled to see a Shorecrest student in the paper this morning because she won a Barnes Scholarship and now attends Duke.
I was thrilled to receive the Morehead-Cain view book from UNC, Chapel Hill and see a member of the class of 2017. We recognize the five-year-old who has had a breakthrough in reading, the 12-year-old who excels in math, and the 17-year-old who has developed an app for cyclist safety. We celebrate students who excel with awards and we celebrate the students who have made academic progress with our respect.
We take great pride in celebrating our student-athletes. I have been thrilled to hear of recent grads who are running cross country at their universities and two others who are playing volleyball at their universities. We are pleased that five of our graduates have been named All-Americans for sailing at their universities.
These student athletes are at universities that most people dream of attending. The list is on our website, but the personal stories always trump a list. We celebrate the student athlete who trains year-round to improve his or her skill. Diving, swimming, running, kicking, dribbling, shooting, hitting, and throwing are skills that require discipline and hours of training if one wants to excel. We celebrate the individuals and teams that make the effort to Be More.
We take great pride in celebrating our Thespians and artists for the performances and art pieces they produce. I hope we never take for granted the high quality of direction, teaching, and performance that our theatre and arts teachers and students demonstrate year after year. We know that these are hallmark programs at Shorecrest. The dedication and commitments the students make are profound. I will also add the effort is worth the sacrifice. Similar to athletic teams, a cast develops a lifetime of memories partially because of the lines and songs that stream through their brains, but also because of the sacrifices and exhaustion they experienced individually and collectively.
At Shorecrest we also celebrate and respect those members of our community who commit themselves to social responsibility. Clearly, many of our students have adult role models who have demonstrated the importance of helping improve our communities and supporting individuals, organizations, and causes that benefit from service and philanthropy.
In many cases, peers inspire classmates to get involved in service-learning projects. In 2017, nearly half of the eighth grade end of year Passion Projects had some element of service embedded in them. From Alpha through 12th Grade, Shorecrest students, their parents/guardians, and teachers engage in service.
We know we are a rare school to have a full-time Director of Service Learning. We know we are a rare school to dedicate a week of the year for the entire Upper School to participate in a Service Week. We celebrate that commitment to social responsibility for current and future leaders.
There is an age-old debate about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. I am convinced people are better off and will do better work when they are personally invested and driven. At the same time, I know it is important for the internal and external community to know about the good things the students, teachers, and families at our school achieve. So, we will do our best to publicly celebrate our students, their teams, troupes, clubs, and activities because we are proud of them and trust it will inspire others to do even more. Be More!
Cheers!
Mike
