If you attended the regular School
Board meeting last night, watched the Facebook live feed, or caught the video
from the live feed sometime later, I hope you noticed a bright light of hope
and courage. Four Milton students owned
the rostrum and addressed not only the Board but also School District
Administrators, more than 50 citizens, and the press.
I call this courage because many
Miltonites would pale and shrink from the prospect of speaking in front of this
many people in a small, relatively enclosed space, especially if that audience
included those who might take issue with the position they were
presenting. Speaking in public rises to
near the top of the list of our greatest fears.
I call this a bright light of
hope because of the manner in which these students delivered their
message. Alexis, Chelsea, and Kennedy
are middle school students, maybe 13 or 14 years old. Macy is a third grader, maybe 8 or 9. These girls were prepared. They were articulate.
They were passionate. They were mature beyond their years. They gave up their personal time (one came
directly from swim practice & returned to the pool immediately after her
presentation) to speak to the community on a topic about which they care
deeply. They were awesome!
Alexis, Chelsea, Kennedy, &
Macy are young girls. They are products
of our school system and our outstanding programs and teachers. The bright light of hope I saw was that they
were passionate, opinionated, and willing to share their perspective in a way
that clearly demonstrated the core values of RESPONSIBLE, RESPECTFUL, SAFE, and KIND. These values
are presented, taught, and lived throughout our school district from 4-k to 12th
grade. Alexis, Chelsea, Kennedy &
Macy lived those values at the Board meeting and modeled behavior we could all
do well to emulate. I do not personally
know these girls but I was so proud.
There is hope. These girls are Milton. We Are Milton. #WAM
