The Sweater

It's May! It's May! That lovely month of May! Isn't it a great time when the days start getting significantly longer and you can wear shorts outside at night? I love anticipating the end of the school year and the beginning of summer. I feel that all my classes have become close like little families and that we have a lot of accomplishments to be proud of. The only thing that I don't look forward to is hearing kids blurt out in class, "It's the end of the year! Can we pleeeeease just stop doing work?!" I just have to tell them that they can go out and stare at the wall in the hall if that is their wish. In the end, they usually don't want to go sit out in the hall all by themselves, they just want attention. But that all aside, it is a great time of year!

Another exciting component to May is getting our 22 new student body officers and class officers elected. These students have lots of new excitement and are already working hard to plan the new school year. One of the things they look forward to the most is...getting the coveted sweater!! Can you believe it? I don't think they have talked about much else for the past two weeks. They put on their sweater and somehow feel different. These sweaters run upwards of $150-$200! They are pretty nice, but I always ask myself: will they ever wear these again once they graduate from high school? I tried to wear my sweater out and about one winter day (they are quite warm) and I got several funny looks. One guy asked, "Were you a cheerleader in high school or something?" I smiled awkwardly and told him that I was currently an adviser for the student council. I guess he couldn't read the writing ADVISER on the back. He rolled his eyes as if saying, "Move on! You are out of high school, girl!"

The new students got measured for their sweaters yesterday afternoon. It is hard for them to simplify these sweaters and cut costs. They all want the colorful stripes, Grizzly paw print, their office embroidered nicely on the pocket and their name in large lettering on the back. They dream about the day that their new sweater arrives (usually early August) and how they will be able to wear it to every assembly, football game and other sporting events. Something about that sweater gives them a new sense of purpose and identity. Here you see a current junior officer, designing a sweater on my whiteboard as he will be a senior officer next year. Yes, a sweater only lasts one year. Some kids have three of these by the end of high school.

Every year, I explain to them the old French proverb: "The habit does not make the monk." We have to realize that we may dress the part, but hopefully our commitment goes deeper than what the eye can see. We all make a statement about ourselves by what we choose to wear in society each day. Though others may judge us based on our appearance, how wonderful a thing it is to take the time to get to know somebody on the inside and see that most people out there are kind, caring and have good intentions. Because these kids love these sweaters so much, we ask them to pay attention to the choices they make each day. After all, we never know who is watching us and learning from our examples.