As you know, Nordonia is one of my favorite places to be.  I’ve been a lot of places in my life and one of the reasons I love Nordonia so much is because I know just how special of a school we have.  If you’d been a part of the Nordonia Family your entire life or career, you may not realize just how good we have it here, but, if you are like me, you know what I’m talking about.  This love and passion for our staff, students, and building is what led to the We Are Nordonia theme for the year – the t-shirts, the popcorn, the pole banners outside.  I believe in Nordonia and want us all to appreciate, love, and feel proud of what we have. 

What is it about Nordonia that makes us so special?

Seriously, think to yourself right now….what about this place makes us Nordonia?  

There are so many answers to this question.  But I will tell you for me, what makes Nordonia so special is the people I spend every day with.  YOU.  All of us.  All of us who walk these halls and spend a part of our lives here.  WE are Nordonia.

So, as we continue to celebrate We are Nordonia Days throughout this year, we are also going to think about what makes us who we are.  We are going to think about our character, our integrity, and the traits that set us apart from everyone else.  Not only are we going to celebrate who we are but we are going to think about who we are and work at becoming the best version on ourselves.  Yes, we are going to spend about 20 minutes a month, beginning today, doing a school-wide mini-lesson to help us develop our character because even though we are already great, we can always grow.

Let’s face, the world outside of these walls can be a pretty crazy place.  We are living in a day and age connected like no other generation, and yet that same technology and access to information has also disconnected us as well.  There is a national trend of insensitivity from the work place to politics.  People fight with strangers on social media and justify bad behavior in the name of humor.  

 1.       Stop, Drop, and Read

Done school-wide, in correspondence with We Are Nordonia Days, the entire school will complete mini-lessons on various character traits.  Lesson plans and articles will be provided to staff.  Mr. Wright will announce the preface of the article and purpose of the lesson, unifying our focus on a positive and relevant topic, then providing time for personal reflection.  Schedule is as follows:

                December – ‘The Moral Bucket List’

                January – ‘The Secrets to a Happy Life, From a Harvard Study’

                February – ‘Social Media: Destroyer or Creator’

                March – ‘How to Survive the College Admissions Madness’

                April – ‘The Joy of (Mom’s) Cooking’

                May – ‘Today’s Exhausted Superkids’