Every school year I hope there is a lesson that can be an opportunity for me to reflect on my own life. This year, I was fortunate to receive that gift from two places. One came from a former student who is living in Romania playing professional basketball. The other came from a current student.
In the middle of the night, I received a message from a former student. It has simple question: "How is good coaching good parenting?
My answer to him was the following: "It comes with the same accountability that balances providing someone with opportunities to be their greatness while at the same time nurturing that person to believe something that is only possible in the moment. Coaches and parents believe what you say you want and then put you in a position to achieve it."
Can I ask the entire staff of Woodroffe HS to please stand?
These are the people who for four plus years have held you up, supported, and nurtured you toward a possibility that didn't exist when you said it. These are the people who came to work every day with a commitment to provide you with as rich an experience as possible such that you could discover something about yourself along the way. They coached you when there was no light in the tunnel and an end was far away. They held you could do it even when it was only a possibility! I am proud to be part of a staff of committed passionate people! Thank you!
The other lesson came from a current student who after a turbulent time, she came up to me and declared, "Miss, I'm always under construction!" We are all always under construction. The Me I was when I walked through these doors 16 yrs ago is not the ME I am today. The you you are now is not the you you were when you walked in these doors four or five years ago. Four or five years ago when you were a fresh faced grade nine student, there was a hope we all held for you. Each and every one of us. It was a start!
Class of 2014, Here you are again, at the 'Commencement' of a new opportunity. Geared up to meet your new coaches who will support, nurture, and hold you in Love while you explore your potential once more wherever life's road carries you next. Remember that you are always under construction, a precious work in progress. Just like the Vanier Pkwy exit on the 417, the construction zone is ugly first. We don't always see the final picture of what it's going to look like. When the building is complete, the beauty that comes from what was created has us forget about all the work it took to get to the final product. Don't forget about what it took to get here and always strive to be under construction, building and transforming the World!
Congratulations!
Miss Coddett
