Each morning, after we say the pledge together, students recite the AVA Student Creed. The creed is a reminder of who we are, how we relate to each other, and how our individual decisions affect us corporately.
I am an Aspen View Academy student.
I have great expectations for myself.
I accept the challenge to become the best I can be.
I accept the responsibility for my behavior and its results.
I do not have the right to interfere with the learning and well-being of others.
With my family and teachers, I will determine what I become.
For the education I receive today will make me a leader of tomorrow.
Our hope is that the morning recitation of the creed will become a touchpoint for the day. Starting with the important, rather than the urgent, will set our focus on who we are becoming through our choices and our habits.
This week as I started reading
Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, Jon Meacham’s 2015 biography of our 41st president, the preface offered a glimpse at President Bush’s creed, or “life code” that he shared in an early letter to his mother: “Tell the truth. Don’t blame people. Be strong. Do your best. Try hard. Forgive. Stay the course.” This is the creed that determined his choices and habits.
Wouldn’t it be a gift if we all created family creeds? Whether we take the time to pen a life code or not, surely we communicate our values and priorities day after day to our children. How can we make use of the things most dear to us in forming our habits and our children’s habits? Often we start with a point of frustration and form routines and habits to solve the problem, like packing backpacks the night before and placing them strategically so that they are convenient to grab on the way out the door in the morning. What if we took some time to form routines and habits that promoted perseverance or honesty or ready forgiveness or a solid work ethic? What would that look like? I think it would look slightly different for each family. But that is part of the beauty of living deliberately. And, it is worth considering.
Melissa Clemmons
Dean of Academics
