Barbara Moulaison Leadership Award Address Given to 2010 8 th Grade Graduating Class Mt. Helix Academy June 17, 2010 Ken Traupmann, Ph.D. Executive Director of Resources, Policy, and Planning Those of us at TIEE like to think that our schools are our privilege to encourage young people to become the people we would want as our neighbors. Caring people, interesting people, exciting people, contributing people. People we deeply admire. To this end, our schools have a broad scope curriculum that includes seven goals for the development of every one of our students. I would like to take a few moments to share them with you, the graduates and your families and friends. 1. Students will acquire the skills to be likable to teachers. Your lifetime will be filled with people who have the potential to teach you important knowledge and skills. Some will be formal teachers in high school, college, and graduate school. Most will be informal teachers, including your friends and family, and all those you encounter. Whether they teach you and how well they teach you will depend on how well they like you. Being liked is a set of skills. I trust we have done a good job showing you the value of being liked by your teachers and have taught you some of the many skills essential to being liked. Continue to learn to be liked by those who have something to teach you. You will find that most everyone has that potential. 2. Students will acquire the skills to develop long-term, positive friendships Friends provide the “village” we all need to thrive. “Good friends” will be there for us whether we are on top and deserve celebration or in the straits and require support. Friendship making is a set of skills. Having those skills and the friends they bring helps to make for a high quality life, one truly worth living. I am sure that we have done a good job showing you the value of making quality friendships and I urge you to continue acquiring the skills necessary to make friends, maybe even life-long friends. 3. Students will eagerly seek out new learning opportunities. The richness of your life is measured more in what your have learned and learned to do than in the amount of your disposable income. An exciting life, a genuinely rewarding life depends on continued learning, classroom learning and “real-world” learning. I trust that we have shown you the value of new learning opportunities and have shown you how to seek them out. Continue to do so and your life will be truly golden.
4. Students will acquire strong academic skills. Academic skills and knowledge are the very foundation of our civilization and they are the wellspring of successful problem solving. Our world is deeply in need of sophisticated problem solvers, and so far as anyone can see, that will always be true. I know we have given you strong academic skills and I trust that we have instilled in you the desire and the skills necessary to continue to acquire ever more advanced academic skills. 5. Students will acquire effective self-management skills. Ancient philosopher said: “know thyself.” Self-managed individuals not only know themselves, they do something positive about it. They organize their world so that they can be more successful and they plan so that they accomplish their goals rather than succumbing to momentary frivolities. They observe themselves so that they can learn from their successes as well as their failures. I am certain that we have given you some important self-management skills, including effective study skills, and I encourage you to continue to acquire ever more sophisticated self-management skills. I know that, if you do, you will be pleased at all that you have done. 6. Students will acquire a variety of leisure skills. The song goes: “Lucky, lucky, lucky me. I ʼ m a lucky son of a gun. I work eight hours. I sleep eight hours. That leaves eight hours for fun.” From now to the end of your life you will have about 200,000 hours of leisure. You better have some variety in what you do or you will become an overstuffed couch potato. If we are truly lucky, our profession can make us interesting and keep us excited. But, our leisure time gives us virtually unending opportunities to do things that are exciting and make us interesting. You have learned some very important skills that can occupy your leisure time and I encourage you to continue to acquire an increasing variety of leisure activities. Some will be just passing fancies, but perhaps one or two will become true avocations that will occupy you in satisfying ways for many years. 7. Students will acquire behavior that is beneficial to others. Each of us has our own personal “village.” Yours will consist of your friends, your neighbors, your associates, and most importantly, your family. You need them and they need you. Your life will be ever so much richer if you find ways to be beneficial to them. Asking nothing in return makes your giving more significant and makes your personal village that much stronger. I encourage you to help to
build your own village by continuing to learn how you may be of benefit to those you care about. Award Beginning this year, Mt. Helix Academy will present an award to the graduating eighth grader who, in the opinion of the faculty, has shown the greatest achievement of these seven goals. This award, named the Moulaison Leadership Award, is given this year and will be given in all future years in honor of the school ʼ s retiring Director, Barbara Moulaison, who has accomplished so very much over the past 16 years to ensure that Mt. Helix Academy provides its students with a quality education that permits its graduates to excel in high school and in the remainder of their lives. This first year of the granting of the Moulaison Leadership Award, the faculty has chosen to honor the development of Elizabeth Austin. Congratulations Elizabeth. Mt. Helix Academy believes you are truly a leader in a graduating class of leaders.
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