Team-Work

Team-Work

Never underestimate yourself or the people around you. Never feel too powerful or too disempowered to participate. When you look at chipping in to get things done, it doesn’t matter who gets things done. Our first day of the New Year, we celebrate with outright engagement.

I work in a school so the first day of the New Year for us is always in early September. We not only like to get the students excited to return to our building but we want everyone to connect with a new beginning, a time to set goals, and start strong.  

We begin with loud music, enthusiasm, and lots of smiles. Everyone is ushered right into the auditorium upon arrival. That’s after we have the upper classmen welcome all of the new students. We line everyone up, announce their name with a bullhorn, and give them high fives as they enter the building.

The auditorium is jacked up with cheering. The last class to arrive is our upper classmen. We roll out the red carpet and give them a standing ovation. After the National Anthem, we count down the New Year. This year, since we had a “Rock Theme”, we struck a gong rather than drop a ball. It’s similar to the Times Square celebration on the traditional New Year.

We briefly talk about our new beginning, yearly theme and service learning platform. The students are excited to start and so is everyone else. That enthusiasm lasts the entire day (or week), and it’s a great starting point.