Text It ..... Tick-Et

As we all knew it would --- tomorrow, December 1st, 2009, becomes the day that a new Texting and Driving Law comes into the Colorado Statutes.

For all of us ... NO TEXTING WHILE DRIVING ... or you can get stopped by law enforcement. The first offense is a $50 fine ... the second offense doubles to $100 ... if you are a habitual law breaker you could go to prison ....

And .... there is another detail for our students to be aware of ... Drivers 18 and under can not TALK ON A CELL PHONE WHILE DRIVING.

Evidently, studies have been done that indicate we lose our focus on the road and driving when we are talking on the phone.

So, as we often say here at Eads High School...ignorance is not a defense...be warned, starting tomorrow you could easily find yourself on the side of the road texting the good news that indeed your limited texting option has just been limited......you just got a ticket for a text.

Our Cups Runneth Over

In his book, UNSTOPPABLE!, Craig Conrad says in Lesson 5:

We all have a CUP. Your cup is your genetic makeup. It is all the things about you that you can't change...your sex, your height, and your skin color. Obviously some of us are blessed and have big cups to fill --- take our football team, for instance.

The Eads football team has many players who are tremendously athletic....big, strong, and fast. Many are experienced, many have tradition and the love of the game behind them. It is easy to say Eads is a BIG CUP team! No doubt.

And knowing this week's opponent our cup is bigger than theirs. So....who will win? Well, as our players know...it will be the team that fills their cup to the top...to their highest achievable level.

So...here is a challenge to the Eads football team ... fill your cups to overflowing because if you don't ... the opponent, whose cup is smaller.... can still beat you simply by putting more "liquid" in their cup.

It is up to you! Fill those cups Boys!

Bringing Them Back

The other day I had an interesting conversation, via Facebook, with a former student, now an EHS Alumni. I like how this person thinks because the issues presented are valid and have to be addressed. Here is a little from our conversation:

"However, the community seems stuck in the thought that young people don't have the "experience" to improve the situation. From an outsider's perspective, it doesn't look good. We need to be making opportunities out there. My goal is to eventually make it back there, but when I hear things are on a downward spin, it's troubling to think about coming back. There have been many days when I'm done living in the city that I look at what I could do back there but there doesn't seem to be much. In the end, we need to be communicating what is available out there for young people to invest in. We need a strong school, strong community, and strong entertainment sector (whether that is a brew house or a theater, the list could go on). "

I would like us all to think about this former student, the concerns expressed, and truly start communicating some ideas on how to get our interested alumni ... and their many new skills and new knowledge .... back into this community.

Common Sense H1N1

The most common sense thing to do when dealing with a flu outbreak is to keep sick people away from healthy people...as much as possible. Therefore, it is very important that sick people stay home until they are well.

While the H1N1 virus is running rampant throughout the country please continue to practice these three procedures each day with your self and with your students:

1. Wash hands with soap and hot water often

2. If you or your child has a fever.....keep/take them home. The school will call you and request you take your child home when this occurs.

3. If your child has sore throat, cough, runny nose, body aches, voiting, or diarrhea...depending on the severity...keep them home. These are called flu-like symptoms and you should report to the school if your child has any of these symptoms...and a fever.

If your child does have flu-like symptoms keep them home for 24 hours after the fever is gone. Tylenol and Ibuprofen are still considered the best medications for lowering a fever.

There is no need to panic if your child is sick and the state is recommending that you call the doctor only when you would usually see a health care professional. There are other flu types floating around and at this point H1N1 is being treated just like all the others.

There does seem to be more of an issue to young children and those with asthma when warding off the effects of H1N1 so parents of those children should be more aware of their child's symptoms and seek professional assistance early.

All in all, the H1N1 virus seems to be yet another virus that our bodies normally fight off. Keeping our hands clean and keeping sick people away from healthy ones....common sense ideas...are the best defenses against getting the flu this year.

Advice to America's Students

I just watched the live broadcast from my office here at school and it seemed to me that the speech was a pretty generic contribution to how we as parents and educators want our kids to be. He said all the right things. I decided to write my favorites here because these are quotes that I have found myself saying to students in my office ... over and over again ...

"Find something you are good at. It is your responsibility to find out what that is."

"There is no excuse for not trying." --- (this is my favorite)

""You write your own destiny."

"Take responsiblity for your goals -- set them, and then go out and get them."

"Being successful is hard."

"Some of the most successful people in the world have the most failures."

"Let your failures teach you ... not define you."

"Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness ... its a sign of strength."

If anyone is interested in watching the speech I'm sure it will be on youtube.com or here are a couple of links listed from the original government email I received on Thursday:

Downloadable video of the speech will be made available on the White House Web site as well as on http://www.ed.gov/ / www.whitehouse.gov/mediaresources/

Obama's Speech to America's Students

On Thursday I opened up an email from VIP Consulting informing us that there will be a historic speech given by President Obama on Tuesday, Sept. 8th, during the school day, and suggested we have all our student's watch the 20 minute broadcast.

There are a number of issues with the request including the expectation that we can just drop what we are doing, change our schedules at such short notice, and expect everyone to want to hear what President Obama has to say. In addition, the school would not have time to inform parents and board members. The assumption that schools could manage to do this is...well...you know what assume(ing) does.

Finally, I would never want to hinder anyone's free speech rights, including a student's right to watch the speech or their right to choose. Therefore, I decided that I will post a link to the speech on our web site so that students, parents, or staff can watch it if they so choose.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/

Oh, and another bit of information on this speech...the US Dept. of Education is inviting all students age 13 and older to make a 2-minute video called "I Am What I Learn". There is prize money involved for the winning videos so if you are interested in making your own video and submit it to the White House go to:
www.ed.gov/iamwhatilearn

I, for one, am interested in just what kind of message President Obama wants to convey to our country's youth...however, I would feel better if they (and their parents) could choose whether to watch his "historic" speech....or not.

Sign of the Times

The past week was filled of an array of media coverage concerning Kit Carson not fielding a football team ... a tradition that found themselves in the playoffs 21 out of the past 25 years.

I was very happy how our school welcomed the young men from Kit Carson onto our team and find that this situation can be very positive for all involved...but, particularly, for the kids... both Wildcat and Eagle.

Here is the latest installment in the media coverage with the main message being that small towns out here on the plains are slowly losing their kids

I urge you to join the Eads Eagles football team in welcoming five Wildcats who want to play football like their peers, brothers, and fathers before them. It could just as easily been us in this situation and I would hope our kids would have options such as those we have offered the Wildcats.

I am very proud of our football players....both "mammals" and "birds"