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Hall of Excellence Five Minute Reflection |
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HALL OF EXCELLENCE--REFLECTIONS
Seventy years ago this last fall a barely seventeen year old girl from the northeastern corner of the state of Iowa walked into a large room in the Women's Gymnasium. Something was happening; she wasn't just sure what. It was the motor abilities test given to students. She loved running and climbing and jumping and throwing and whatever. She ran the fields, the hills, along the Mississippi River of her little river town. She climbed the trees and jumped the streams. As she looked at the maze of stuff in the test, she thought it looked like fun. So she ran the course. At the end of her run, several faculty members came up and excitedly asked,"Are you a major?" She really had no idea what they were asking. "Are you a Physical Education Major?" "No, I'm taking business ."
"You have to be a major. You just scored the highest score we've had since we started giving this test . "So I added the Physical Education major to my program. In my young mind, I figured when people had that much passion about what they were doing, I wanted to join that team.
And I loved every moment of it. I played basketball and softball in high school. But I had never owned a golf club or a tennis racket or played any of the other sports. I had never been in a swimming pool. I knew how to jitterbug, do the waltz and square dance. But you had to love modern dance with Miss Moore.
I lived and breathed the passion of my professors, that contagion of purposem and I most certainly caught a double dose of the commitment that surrounded me. No whining allowed. Just get on with it. You have chosen to be a teacher. The testimony of the commitment of the wonderful faculty who inhabited my life was written in large letters; I could not miss it.
Mark Twain was asked the reason for his success. He replied, "I was born excited." Every professor I had in the department was born excited. I learned that you cannot kindle a fire in another's heart until it is burning in your own. I learned that I could not touch a student's heart with anything less than my own. I learned that I would not truly be teaching until I touched the souls of my learners. I could not expect energy if I gave none. I learned that I needed to feel responsibility with my learners, not control or power over them.
You have heard of Miss White. I want to introduce you to my Miss White. This incredible lady was the brightest, most knowledgeable, compassionate, best able to know what we really needed, and committed teacher, apart from my mother and father, I've had. And I have had some incredible teachers, coaches, and mentors. She will always be at the top. This place we all call our major department was and is special. I am honored and grateful to receive this recognition. Being inducted into the Hall of Excellence in a place of such a tradition of excellence, energy, and humanity is indeed a high honor. You have taken the time to honor my accomplishments, the things that I have been able to do, the successes of a long and wonderful career which is still progressing extremely well. I hope that others can stand on my shoulders and reach for the stars, the way I was privileged to stand on the shoulders of Doris White, Monica Wild, Dorothy Humiston, Maude Moore and all the others. They bore my weight while I stretched and reached for new boundaries and scanned for new horizons. They did not keep me on the beach looking for scraps. I thank them all.
I pledge to continue to live the greatest lesson I experienced in this placeˇXthat is to make a positive difference in the lives of those you touch every day!!!! I will continue to serve, to make a difference every day. I just finished a book which is on the way to the publishers. It's called "An Enchanted Place . " It is to celebrate the enchanted places of learning I have had and to give back what I have been privileged to learn. It is one of four planned books. I am serving my fourth term on our local school board; I continue to champion choice in any way possible. I celebrate the newness technology brings to learning and what the newness of the young around me bring to my life. I fight for freedoms I have enjoyed and I praise my Lord with a grateful heart for the incredible opportunities and challenges in my life.
Thank you Michael for sharing my thoughts. Thanks to all my family. You honor me with your presence at the event. I proudly share this honor with all the wonderful recipients n the class of 2009. To Dean Callahan, Dr. Thrall, Dr. Crawford, Carol, Sherry and all of those who made this possible, "Thanks." And very special thanks to my sons and grandchildren who remain my most ardent teachers
I love you all. God Bless. Sylvia BoltzˇXGrandma "Sy" Tucker
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