There is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps, for the rest of our lives, w

“There is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps, for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less.” - Kurt Hahn

I have noted in past Mayor’s Messages, that I spent my professional career in the field of education, as an instructor and administrator. While I spent the majority of my career as a high school administrator, my first eleven years included responsibilities as an instructor, counselor and administrator of an alternative high school program. The “Young Adult Education” program was geared to meet the needs of students who could not find success in a traditional day school program, and as a result, left that environment prior to achieving a high school diploma. Our program offered students a chance to work during the day and attend classes in the evening. One might think these were poor students, but you would be wrong, many were very bright students who came to us with very poor self-mages. While our task was to provide them with the coursework they needed to graduate, we spent a considerable amount of time working to instill in them a sense of self-worth, an opportunity to understand their ability to be not only successful in school, but in life.

I often wonder how many of these students fared after they left our program. Over the years, several of them have sought me out on social media to say “thank you” for my putting up with their somewhat negative behavior while adding how well they were doing in life. As Mr. Hahn states, “there is more in us than we know,” and in the case of my former students, we were able to get many of them to “reach inside” to see their true worth as individuals, and possibly moved them to a point where they would be “unwilling to settle for less.” As I reflect back on my career, working with these students was one of my most challenging, yet rewarding tasks. Working with those young men and women taught me that an individual has the ability to overcome prior negative experiences, and find personal fulfillment. The lesson here is that in life, we each need to look deep inside to find out our true worth, and to accept nothing less.