Failure is Not Fatal

I follow a lot of other blogs and one is written by another school counselor who works here in Ohio.  I read his post and immediately knew that I wanted all of you to benefit from his words.  He generously gave me permission to repost his thoughts about why failure is not fatal and I hope you will appreciate his insight as much as I did.

I couldn't help but laugh as I read the news tonight and the critics are jumping all over the weathermen and politicians in upstate New York. As you may know, everyone was predicting the snowstorm of "historic significance" all along the East Coast last night and today. The Governor, the mayor and anyone else who had any authority was making news statements telling the people to stay home, don't travel and don't go to school. The Governor authorized the closing of the transportation industry and warned anyone if they were out on the street, they would be arrested. According to all sources, they were getting two feet of snow with severe winds. Well as you are aware, New York city did not get the big snow storm that was called for and today everyone is apologizing and making excuses. The people of New York want to know how something like this could happen, especially in this day and age with all the technology we have available to us today.

As I read all this chit chat, I couldn't help but think... I guess the weather people failed us this time. This is one time that the people should be glad they got it wrong. I also thought that I am glad that the meteorologist don't just feel defeated and quit. What I have read is that they are going to go back and analyze their models and see what went wrong. I think that is a great idea and one we can all learn from.

See, there is nothing wrong with failure. If I can quote Winston Churchill "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts". We all make mistakes throughout our life, however, it is what we do with those mistakes that counts. We should always try to learn from our mistakes and then continue on. If we learn from our mistakes, we can become better people and better students. Did you know that Henry Ford failed in previous business efforts five times before he finally founded the successful Ford Motor Company. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas". He started several other business that ended in bankruptcy until he finally hit it with Disney Land. Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven, causing his parents and teachers to think he was mentally handicapped, slow and anti-social. Thomas Edison is quoted as saying "I have not failed. I just found 10,000 ways that wont work".

That is my hope for each and everyone of you. I hope that no matter what you work at in life, you will realize that failure is a part of life. It is said, if you never fail, you never have tried. You will fail, but you need to understand that you can learn from your failures. Please get back in the game and don't let it bother you. Remember all the great people throughout our history that have failed, and then think, maybe someday everyone may be quoting you and recognizing your great accomplishments. I have faith in all of you, and as always, remember... you were created for something great! I believe you truly were.

Thank you Mr. Fisher for you words - I whole heartedly agree - my students were destined for greatness and can achieve anything as long as you never give up!

Career Fair Help Needed

A committee of parents, teachers, counselors and other staff are currently working hard to plan the 2015 Career Fair. The upperclassmen may recall the Career Fair from 2 years ago as this is an event we hold every other year.  This year the event will take place on Friday, April 24th.

The Career Fair gives all students the opportunity to interact one-on-one, in an informal setting, (during the school day at WKHS) with a variety of different career professionals. I know that in addition to my students, many parents read this blog - and I need your help with this project! We need to find more people who are willing to attend the Career Fair. Adults can help by completing the career questionnaire by clicking on the link or visiting the WKHS Counselor website and clicking on the link there.  I would also love it if you could ask your family members, friends, neighbors, or colleagues to help by participating and completing the career questionnaire too!

Testing and Crazy Schedules

Tomorrow is not just a normal return to school - it is also the start of PARCC testing and lots of crazy schedules.  Our bell schedules will be very different almost every day and you will need to pay attention to what schedule we will be on each day.  The good news is that the administrators are going to post the schedule each day so that you will know what to expect.

I know that when schedules are inconsistent and with all of the testing over the next few months, stress levels are running high.  Please, try to take a deep breath and relax.  You will do great on the tests and we will all make it through the craziness of the schedules together.  As always, if you are having a difficult time making managing any of this, please stop by and see me!

Impressive Students

I wish I had pictures of all of these students, but this post has been a long time coming and I didn't want to wait any longer to be able to celebrate their successes.

Last month I was lucky enough to attend the musical, The Secret Garden.  So many of "my" students were involved in making this such a special show.  Sharing their talents on stage included: Steven Borchers, Grayson Brown, Nick Contreras, Katybeth Crider, and Emily Dyer.  But a major production like this cannot happen without the work of many people behind the scenes.  My students who played a vital role behind the scenes included Dylan Buford, Conor Conklin, Joelle Dirksen, Erica Eyen, and Jake Eyen.  A musical is never complete without music and Lance Brown and Anna Chen shared their talents in that way.  And, last but not least, the set was built by: Tamana Afrin, Max Alderman, Erin Beard, Ava Burson, Cainan Carlisle, Julian DeLa Cruz, and Chris Dessoir.

Many of the WKHS students have been recognized recently with Art Awards for their pieces including: Eaman Abay (Honorable Mention for Charred Remains), Jacob Bloom (Honorable Mention for Enchanged Pineapple Forest), Reed Costello (Honorable Mentions for Peace in Death and Mount Adventure), and Anne Dargenio (Honorable Mentions for Not These and Relief and Gold Key for Direction).

The Science Olympiad team has been excelling and several of my students were among those who have received ribbons for placing in the top 10 in their events including: Megan Coogan and Beth Findell (10th in Air Trajectory), Danielle Chan (6th in Bungee Drop), Beth Findell (8th in Mission Possible), and Vaishnavi Dasaka (7th in Protein Modeling).  They compete again next weekend - Good Luck!


And, I am behind on recognizing both my January and February Students of the Month.  As you may be aware, Students of the Month are nominated by a staff member in recognition for outstanding contributions in the classroom, school community or for their citizenship and character.  (I do have pictures of these students!)

Congratulations to January's Students of the Month: Eryn Chincheck and Jayme Chincheck

Congratulations to February's Students of the Month: Caleb Cravens, Gillian Ferguson, Kayla Beals, Grayson Biglin, Brandon Badowi, Sam Biglin, Grant Dierksheide, Luke Durbin, Tyler Davis, and not pictured Rebecca Dutko.

Congratulations to each of you for your impressive accomplishments!

Talent Abounds

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you are enjoying the long weekend so far and managing to stay warm in spite of the frigid temperatures.  Thursday night's talent show was the perfect way to kick off the long weekend.

I love the talent show each year because I am so impressed by the incredible students who perform and I also love seeing the students in the audience demonstrating their support for the performers.  The respect and encouragement for your peers is what makes WKHS such a special place.  I had quite a few of "my" students participate in this year's talent show.

All 4 of the emcee's for the event were mine.  Reed Costello, Anne Dargenio, Madeline Beal, and Dom Brown entertained and their Mean Girls piece was particularly funny.

Madeline and Anne also performed in the show.  (They were also amazing during the Empty Bowl Dinner.)

Grayson Brown sang.

The IB girls including Hana Estice, Tessa Bolon, and Ariel Bloom all danced.

Bailey Andrews sang.

Kayla Boudreault played the piano and sang.

Steven Borchers sang.

The Field Hockey girls including Brittany Ayers, Mackenzie Bennett, Holly Dargenio and Erica Eyen all danced.

And, Anne Dargenio showed that she was the busiest girl when she performed again.

It was a great night in honor of Timmy, a Bluffsview Elementary School student battling cancer, and all of the money raised will go to help those battling Childhood Cancer.

College Visits

We have a long weekend coming up - 4 days off!  It is a perfect time to make visits to colleges and explore their campus.  Most colleges will be in session on Friday so you have the opportunity to see campus with students around and can ask yourself if you can imagine being friends with the students on their campus.  And then Monday is a holiday when most colleges are not in session, but because they know that high school students are also off, many colleges plan special days to allow students to learn more of the different programs and opportunities available on campus.  No matter if you are trying to decide what colleges you might want to apply to in the future or if you are a senior trying to decide which of the many schools you applied to will be your future home, I hope you will try to take advantage of the long weekend and make visits.  Please also remember that I would like to have a picture of you somewhere on campus for every school that you visit!

Caps and Gowns

Seniors, did you order your cap and gown? Commencement is less than 4 months away and I am hearing that many of you still haven't placed your orders. The deadline to order your cap and gown is February 17th!  (That is next Tuesday!)  If you are among the students who haven't placed your order, please visit the National Recognition Products website to order your cap and gown online today!