I choose this quote today as we have a little less than a month left in school. I think it is words we can all live by, but I especially think it is something we should encourage all of our children and students to do. We need to be sure that everyone feels like they are important and to know that someone really cares about them.

I am spending most of this month in the classrooms at STRIDE. In the past couple of years STRIDE has gone through some amazing changes and it is quite evident when I walk the halls. It is so nice to be greeted by students with them initiating those greetings, or when I tell them to have a good day and they respond back by telling me to have a good day. I have also been asked how my day is going by students I pass in the hall. I am hoping that these exchanges are also happening among the students. I hope that they are encouraging their classmates both inside and outside of the classroom. I have witnessed students stopping in the hall to help another student who has dropped and spilled all their supplies. I have seen students get supplies, books or worksheets for another student who didn't yet have theirs. I have witnessed students encouraging another student to do their best and celebrating with them when they give the right answer.

All of this is a start. It's a start to try and make this a better world. A world in which children will feel safe within the walls of our schools. Feel safe to raise their hand and share their thoughts. Feel safe to read aloud among their peers, even if they might not know a word. Feel safe to try their best, even if they may fail. That these same students will know that people within that school care about them. To know that they will always receive support and understanding within the walls of their classrooms. That the schools in our country will go back to being safe places they once were, when none of us knew what a lockdown was.

So let's start each day with the purpose of making everyone we meet feel like they are somebody and that they are important. In doing this we will also end our day knowing that we are somebody who can truly make a difference.