When I was growing up, I remember playing the game, “Hide and Seek”.   One would be chosen to hide their eyes and count and the rest of us would go and hide, hoping not to be found.    When we heard, “Ready or not, here I come” we knew it may be only a matter of time before we were caught.  (yes, we were all eventually caught…you can only hide and remain quiet for so long.) 

“READY or NOT…..”

42 hours and counting.    No time to back out..no time to change our mind..no time for a, “do over”.  42 hours and the hallways at White Oak Middle School will be filled with the sounds of excitement and heartache.   Excitement from seeing your friends for the first time since May, excitement of what the new year will bestow, excitement of getting back into a routine.    The heartache from not knowing where your classroom is located, heartache of not knowing if you are prepared for the day, much less the year, heartache due to not getting enough sleep the night before and feeling a bit sleepy by 9:00 am!   Each summer you strive to be better prepared than the previous year.  Each May you look forward to the long summer away from school and each August you wonder where the summer went. 

41 hours and 55 minutes and counting.    No time to back out..no time to change our mind..no time for a, “do over”.   We are excited about the 2010-2011 school year.  We are looking forward to great things from all individuals that make up White Oak Middle School, which include students, parents, grandparents, staff members, and the community of White Oak.  It has been said numerous times, everyday is a GREAT day in the Valley of the Roughnecks!     

Welcome to White Oak Middle School!!!

As we are preparing for a new school year, I ask you to look at the following suggestions for making your first day at White Oak Middle School a great day!!!

1)   Come to school with a great attitude and a willing heart.  Middle School is vastly different from Intermediate School as High School is vastly different from Middle School.  Research states it takes 30 seconds to make a first impression but it takes approximately 20 additional encounters to undo or change a bad first impression.  (Capturing Kids’ Hearts)  There is always a transition/adjustment period when going from one campus to another and/or from one district to another.   Start this school year on the right track by being prepared, everyday.  

2)   Purpose in your heart to do the right thing.   An old saying, “What’s popular is not always what’s right and what’s right is not always what’s popular” still holds true today.

3)   Michelangelo once said, “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”  Aim High!!!

4)   Practice the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” everyday.

5)   Be a leader.   “Leaders aren’t born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal. “  Vince Lombardi

6)   “If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right. “ Henry Ford

7)   Strive to be successful in all you do.  “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.”    Booker T. Washington

8)    Do not be afraid to try.    “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”  Bill Cosby

9)   Be a blessing to your fellow students.   “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.”  Theodore Roosevelt

10)   “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.   Enough said!