1.  distress; affliction; hardship

2.  an unfortunate event or incident

If you are like me, you are continually amazed by the students with which we spend our days.  I am constantly reminded of how kids carry a resilience many of us forget about in our daily lives.  Sure, we can point out the negatives of any of our kids, we can complain about their lack of interest in our homework assignments (which should tell us something about us), and we can make statements about how kids aren’t like we were at their age (well, duh).  Instead, let’s talk about kids overcoming adversity and rising above some incredible challenges.

Truth be told, we are having a terrific year at Rock Springs High School.  Our enrollment is up, again, school spirit and culture are quite positive right now, and our fall sports teams are enjoying a great deal of success.  Among these successes is our 4-2 football team, off to their best start in over a decade.  This, by itself, does not merit special consideration over other activities and clubs but it does serve to point out the big increase in support and positive feel our community has for our teams and school.  This photo says a lot about the support from our community…

Last week was Homecoming week for us and we had a terrific week.  Students and staff dressed up and showed their school spirit, our pep rally and parade were among the best in recent memory, and the football team earned a rather dramatic win to cap the night.  But this, by itself, is not what inspired me to write today.  Rather, it was a series of events in which one, or more, of our kids overcame adversity, believed in themselves and the people around them, and accomplished something awesome.

Three specific events led me to write this post – so let me elaborate…

1.  We had reached halftime of the football game Friday evening, honored our homecoming court, and had our fabulous (and should be world-famous) band perform.  Upon the conclusion of the band performance, the cheer squad took the field to perform.  Tonight would be unique to their work up to this point, especially since they would perform to music for the first time all year. Cheer took the field, lined up, and started their music.  BAM – the music cut out.  They waited, holding position and smiles in place.  The music WOULD NOT play – after a couple minutes it was apparent that the music would not be joining our cheer squad this night.  Undaunted, the cheerleaders performed their routine to a very large ovation.

2.  Immediately to follow the cheer squad was the Tiger Rhythm Dance Team.  Yes, they require music.  Again, apparent that the music would not play – the dance team (21 girls) sang their song while they danced.  Pretty amazing to watch them dance without music.  As well, huge ovation from the crowd.