The Cardinal Way

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

- Thomas Jefferson

Every day, many things happen to us that are out of our control; still, the one thing we can always control is our attitude. One of the best ways to control our attitude is to find the positive in every situation. Even on our worst days, there are still some good things that happened. Unfortunately, we often tend to focus on the negative events because they cause us pain and stress, which we feel we have to deal with immediately. I fall into this trap way too often. I get frustrated with people and their behaviors and allow their negative attitudes to impact my day. Recently, one of my goals is to reflect and focus on those positive moments in my day. I have decided to encourage my focusing on the positive is to find three great things that happened each day. I am working on developing the habit that before I leave the building for the day, I will try listing three (or more) positive actions that I witnessed. By finding these positives each day before leaving, I have found it allows me to leave school each day with a positive attitude. It has also helped me return the next day with a better attitude and a vigor to meet any challenges that may arise. This gives me the mindset to leave those troubles and difficult situations behind me and deal with them with a more positive outlook, thus beginning each new day by moving forward with a more positive focus. The longer I do this, the more I find my attention going to good things during the day. Even in the last couple of weeks, it has become easier each day to list three, if not more, great things that I have seen or experienced as I walk around the hallways, classrooms, and the cafeteria. I have had many more positive experiences than negative ones; it just depends where I decide to place my focus.

Be a Cardinal; Change Lives; Put a Mission into Motion

Thank you to:

• our club sponsors who are getting kids back into club activities after a year's hiatus.
• our office staff. We are finally getting positions filled and people starting in those roles. Thank you to our office staff for carrying extra responsibilities over the first month of school!
• all for your increased efforts during hallway duty and iPass. The hallways and iPass have run much smoother this week.

Week 6: Grateful Friday Challenge

It’s once again Friday. We made it through another great week. And I’ve been told that since everything is going so well- we get a bonus day this weekend! Yippie! (See you on Tuesday!) We are just past midway through the first nine weeks and things are really amping up around here in terms of academics and in the sports world. Homecoming is just around the corner and around here that is a pretty big deal so preparations are already underway!

Friday’s seem to be monumental as we get into a routine of the school year and we reflect on the happenings of the week. Some pass by without much notice, and sometimes things happen in a week that you will be talking about 10 years from now, some with nostalgia, others with big eyes and a head shake.

We tend to look forward to those monumental happenings in our lives or monumental happenings of the school year. Years for the veteran teachers seem to pass faster and faster… or at least they did. Can you believe that we are sitting here on the first Friday in September…. Already?!?!

But sometimes we get so caught up in looking forward to the big things, or living in the big things, or celebrating the big things that we forget to celebrate all the small things that got us there.

Let’s spend today looking for the beauty in the mundane. Let’s live for the little victories, those that regularly happen and we often forget how great they are. Let’s let people close to us know how much we appreciate them, and how they help us get through the day-to-day. Smile more, be thankful, give some high-fives… love the process and celebrate the day.

With banners flying as we go! #FlyAsONE

Hope you enjoy this weeks 180 Days of Learning Posts

Coach Bettag has set up an opportunity for some of our football players to visit the Southport Elementary schools on Fridays during iPass to read to and work with students. Students leave at the beginning of iPass and visit various elementary schools. The students have reading buddies when they visit and also help the students with reading tasks assigned by the teacher. This program is a great way to get Cardinal mentors in our elementary schools!

Mr. Duncan's Info Tech students help with the repair and maintenance of Chromebooks at SHS. Devices with minor issues or broken screens are taken to students in Mr. Duncan's class. The students learn how to repair and maintain Chromebooks so we can get them back to students quickly.

Reggie Dabbs is a national motivation speaker who speaks to millions of high school students each year. He also speaks to NBA and NFL teams. Between some commitments in the Indy area, Reggie had a chance to stop by Southport to speak to some small groups of students. Danielle Grehn knows Reggie personally and was able to coordinate this visit to a few of our classrooms. Reggie shared a message with our students to help them understand that they matter and are valued. We were fortunate to have Reggie visit SHS, even on a small scale.

The SHS School Counselors are running a College Application Bootcamp for interested seniors during iPass. This Bootcamp will run over the course of four sessions. Students who attend had the opportunity to learn about the requirements of the application process, work on application essays, and complete other logistical items to get ready for the college application process. Thank you to our School Counselors for providing this opportunity for our students!

Mrs. Roberts theater students are beginning to practice their acting skills. Students in the class would randomly give a location, different characters, and a problem. Three students then had to take on the personality of the three different characters and try to solve the given problem. Throughout the performance, Mrs. Roberts would yell "switch," and the students would have to switch character roles, take on the new personality and continue to act out how they would solve the problem.

Website: http://websites.msdpt.k12.in.us/sh/
Location: 971 E Banta Rd, Indianapolis, IN, United States
Phone: 317-789-4800
Twitter: @SHS_Cardinals