I spent the entire day at Mizzou with Emily for the solo and ensemble state tournament. Emily was far less anxious than I was, and played beautifully. She got a I rating (superior, the best you can do). We're so proud of her, it is tremendous. We saw many of the other students play too. I was really impressed with the marimba quartet that Michelle Wanstreet and Katie Garcia were in. It was absolutely brilliant.

Friday, during the teacher workday, many of us expressed concern that the kids are often negative about our school due to not feeling like they are part of something great. We all thought that maybe instead of just pep rallys for the sports kids, that we should be making far more of what all the kids do in their various teams, clubs, and organizations like the band (or in my case my science olympiad group). In stead of just giving the kids a brief announcement on the intercom, we should be celebrating them in a larger way, to try to engender the school spirit that they really seem to be lacking.

Many kids mention that our school "sucks" since there is no money for anything, like books and supplies, and that friends at other schools have so much more. Even if this is an issue, it seems that we could still try other things to help out with the negativity. It didn't help much that all the arson destroyed some things that the kids were kinda proud of.

Our kids do some extraordinary things, and they all deserved to be recognized when they do something great.