It's Early Spring at Hamilton:
February Principal Update
By: John Burkholder
Each year as we head into February I remind our staff members of something called Expectancy Theory. With a bit of literary licence, Expectancy Theory relates to the outcomes that we expect or believe will come our way given our own actions and effort. Our actions can also be the way we choose to think about things. As such, I encourage our Hamilton staff members to view this time of February and March as "Early Spring." We try to stay away from the word "Farch", which is often used to symbolize a difficult time of year in the north when we are fully immersed in winter.
My suspicion is that if we expect darkness and dreariness, and the cold emptiness of winter in a period we call Farch, then that is what we will find. On the other hand, if we head into February and March expecting to find Early Spring, then there is a good chance we will notice the increasing minutes of sunlight each day, hear a song bird here and there, and wholly celebrate those days when the weather heads into the 30s and 40s. As individuals, we will hold these momentary celebrations for each positive of Early Spring because we expect them to happen.
I write an update to our Hamilton staff each week across the school year, and during these weeks of February and March I include a section called "Three Positives" where I point out some of the small celebrations that I run across each week at Hamilton Middle. Some recent noticings have been the two red foxes that those arriving to our campus early can see out on our soccer field, the fun that students are having sledding at Tyrol Hamilton, the beautiful new sign that art teacher Sarah McRae created for our LMC, and an 8th grade student running to catch up to a sixth grader to return a dropped mitten. The positives are all there for the taking; we just have to be open to seeing them.
I hope you are having a great start to Early Spring!
