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Thursday Thoughts
September 25, 2008
Carlton Rider, Principal |
Recently I was asked to write a tribute to
one of our former teachers who will be
inducted into the St. Mary-Bishop
Fenwick-William V. Fisher Catholic Hall of
Fame this coming Saturday during the Fisher
Catholic football game. Shane Roush was shot
and killed in August of 2002 while going to
Hilton Head to share a few days with a
college friend and fellow tennis player from
Ohio Northern University. The murder was
numbing to all who knew Shane Roush. He
would have started his third year at St.
Mary’s, teaching the seventh grade, coaching
the seventh grade boys’ basketball team, and
was also our junior high athletic director.
The visitation was held in our school gym a
few days after his death and was attended by
hundreds and hundreds of people who waited
in line for up to two hours to view the
closed casket and meet with his family. The
funeral Mass the next day had over a
thousand people in attendance. After
witnessing the tremendous outpouring of
support for the family and the many
tributes, both spoken and written, I
mentally filed away one question to consider
later. That question was: How might I better
live my life so that those I leave behind
will one day send me off like this? A very
good question for all of us to consider.
I later recalled a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that
went something like this: “Our chief desire
in life should be to find someone who will
help us get the best from ourselves.”
Perhaps those are good words for all of us
to consider and to let that thought light
our way this year: That we would seek out
those who will help us get the best from
ourselves this year. And more: That we would
ourselves be people who would help others
find the best in themselves. Surely, that is
something close to the best in all of us.
Shane Roush was able to seek and associate
with those who brought out the best in him
and likewise, he brought out the best in
others in his unassuming, quiet manner.
As I have mentioned before, we are making
attempts to cut down on the amount of paper
that is being sent in our Thursday folder. I
believe that when people see the amount of
reading material sent home each week that
they tend to either put the material aside
and not read it or simply throw it away
without looking at it. I believe that some
of the material sent home could be better
communicated by other means. You will find
that next month’s activity calendar and
lunch menu will be put on our website and
not sent in the Thursday folder. Weekly
up-dates of various activities and
announcements will also be put on our
website. There is a lot of new information
found on our website and we add new links
weekly. A new feature is a link to the
Fisher Catholic website. I have a letter in
this week’s Thursday folder outlining some
of the other changes to our website. If you
would like to see other items put on our
site just let me know and we will see what
we can do.
Interim reports go home this Thursday. One
thing to keep in mind is that teachers may
not have had a lot of assessments to this
point in the quarter due to this being the
first quarter of the year and the time
missed with the power outages. Nonetheless,
the interim reports do give you an
indication as to where your child is now,
academically, and gives you, your child, and
teacher an opportunity to make adjustments.
The first quarter ends on October 24th.
Our Book Fair will take place the week of
September 29th. This year’s Fair will be
held on the first floor of the Main Building
in room 104(formally the music room).
A reminder that shorts may not be worn after
Tuesday, September 30th. After that date all
students in grades 1 – 8 must be in their
regular uniforms.
Previous Messages:
September 18, 2008
September 11, 2008
September 4, 2008
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