January calls for Catholic Schools Week. It is one of my favorite times of the school year as it is a great reminder of why I love my job. Throughout the week I will listen to parents, students, teachers and administrators share what Catholic School means to them. They will each have a completely different take on it, yet somehow I know that they will all hit home for me. Oddly enough, the best decision I could have ever made was to leave Catholic school and teach at a public school for 2 years. I think had I never left Xavier I would have always wondered if the grass was greener. I would have envied their pay scale, longed for their IPERS and relished their paid professional development. It was not my intention to ever leave Xavier, as those grey wall have had a profound affect on me. However, I couldn't have appreciated God's plan more. It allowed me to glimpse into a life outside of the one I knew I had been called to.
Saying good-bye to Xavier opened my eyes to how much I value Catholic school. Not because we are held to a "higher standard" as our tagline says. Not because the students are different at a Catholic school in comparison to a public school. Not because the academics are superior. There are numerous schools throughout the country that offer high standards, great students and superior academics. However, the little things in my day are the most extraordinary. I start each day with a school wide prayer and reflection. Time stops. Students stop. I stop. There is a certain power to sensing the quiet stillness among 700 people each day as they pray together. It is powerful and I get to experience it at 7:50 each morning. I had no idea how much I would miss this each and every day when I wasn't at Xavier.
My students tell me hello as they come in and ask how I am doing. Not how you are thinking, but...they really ask...stop...and wait for a response. They truly are interested in how my day is going. Isn't that my job?! To be concerned about them?! Then as they leave my class they say thank you. What?! Thank you for that literary analysis of 15th century Spain in a second language?! Are you kidding me?! You're so very welcome! My students are amazing, no doubt because they have been raised by some amazing parents.
I go to lunch and my co-workers discuss what books they are reading, good recipes they are making and awesome personal accomplishments they are working toward. They discuss faith, family, fitness and time management. I seriously want to take notes some days at lunch as I watch these awesome people manage school and home life so effortlessly. There is no talk of meeting their "rule of 88" for when they can retire, or how much they don't want to be there. I leave lunch usually dreaming about what race I'd like to run next or with some new tidbit of what I can do with technology or how to help out a student.
When I leave for the day I head to my second favorite Catholic School to get my children. It is impossible to get in and out in under 10 minutes as everyone stops to chat. My girls' teachers are still hard at work, and I love knowing that they are working to ensure my kids' next day of school is nothing short of phenomenal. I pick my kids up and see Xavier alum and current Xavier students who work the after school program. I chat with Xavier parents and other Xavier teachers as they pick up their children as well.
There is nothing HUGE about Xavier that makes it great. No ONE thing makes it stand out from any other school. However, a bunch of little things do, and they add up to this amazing sense of love, faith and community. If you have had the privilege of being part of this community for even an hour, you can feel it the second you walk in the door. I remember the very feeling I had when I walked in to interview for my old job after I had left. I immediately had goosebumps, and had to giggle at the incredible sense of calm that washed over me. It felt like I was home.
"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen." - John Wooden
1 comment:
I love X!
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