Remember When You Used to Believe...

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'Tis the season for jingle bells, cookies, trees, family, giving, music, snow (sometimes), and oh yes... the jolly old man in the big red suit. Do you remember the day when you used to believe? The season seemed to be filled with anticipation, excitement, and pure happiness about everything. A general positive feeling filled the air and nothing seemed as if it were impossible. Everything was a Christmas miracle. Ironically, this feeling is no different than that time when you thought you could actually make a difference in the world. Do you remember when you used to believe that? Unfortunately too many adults (young and old) stop believing in that as well and that is when negativity and apathy begins to consume our lives.

The reality is that YOU can make a difference. One person can make a large difference in the world. It's all about perspective though. One person may not be able to be THE difference in the world but they certainly can be A difference. Each day in education we make a difference of some kind. You've all heard it before; each day you provide a child with the gift of hope, or even on your worst day you are one of your students' greatest hope. There are many things in our profession that are dictated to us but that doesn't mean we have no control over making a difference or creating our own destiny. So for this holiday season, I'm asking for more people to once again believe in their ability to make a difference. After all, our charge is to serve children and our community. This is a serious responsibility but one that we can certainly achieve our goals with if we simply believe in our ability to affect change in the face of adversity. Channel your inner child and remember what it felt like to believe, and then the smile on your face will lead the way. Happy Holidays everyone and I will see you again in 2016!

Black Knight Kudos ...

Thank you to everyone who is participating in this year's Crazy Attire event to raise money for the Rescue Mission!

Congratulations to Marian Draper for being named All-CNY first team for Cross Country!

Congratulations to all of our musicians for their participation in various performances both in school and around the city during the past few weeks!

This Week at RFA...

12/21 - Boys (v) Bowling vs. Whitesboro
12/21 - Girls (v) Basketball vs. Notre Dame
12/21 - Boys (v) Swimming at Sherburne-Earlville
12/22 - Crazy Attire Day for Students
12/22 - RFA Winter Concert #2, 7:00 pm
12/22 - Girls (v) Volleyball at VVS
12/22 - Boys (v) Wrestling vs.Sherburne-Earlville
12/22 - Boys (v) Basketball at Notre Dame
12/22 - Boys (v) Hockey vs. Ithaca
12/23 - PAJAMA DAY
12/23 - Boys (v) Swimming at South Lewis Central
12/24 - NO SCHOOL
12/25 - NO SCHOOL

Worth the Read...

Take a Moment to Self Reflect and Grow...

During the last 2 weeks of 2015, take a moment to think back about the best day or three of teaching that you had this year. What made it the best day of the year for you? Reflect on what you did, what your students did, and what else outside of your control influenced  your day to make it happen? Moving forward, work to incorporate as many of those attributes into your daily routine and be the difference that you want to be.

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