Just before the Spanish-American War, it is told that President William McKinley needed to get a message to General Calixto Garcia, a leader of the Cuban insurgents somewhere in the mountains of Cuba - no one knew where. First Lieutenant Andrew S. Rowan took the letter and left to deliver the message. He did not ask where Garcia was or how to get there. He just completed the task he was given no matter the obstacles. Here is a man, in times of imminent war that took the message and the initiative and completed his mission. No one gave him directions, no one held his hand, he stood tall accepted the challenge and accomplished it.

We often find ourselves given a challenge to complete and we ask the questions of who, where, how. I'm very guilty of this - I want a map. Give me some direction and I'm all set. Here is a man who had nothing but a name and a message. He took the initiative to develop his own plan, knowing he could fail or even be killed. How brave he must have been, how honor bound, and how determined. To possess these qualities is not impossible.

It is my belief that if we start looking deep within ourselves we can find those same qualities. We just need to put them to use. Think of some things you know you need to complete or work towards. Now, think of all of the excuses you have used not to do it. Not enough time, I'm too tired, it's too difficult for just one person.

My challenge this week is to encourage our students to take that first step and then just take one step at a time until they reach their goal.

On Saturday JMS hosted an academic UIL meet. The meet was ran beautifully thanks to all of the hard work of Ms. Swanson. We received compliments from visiting schools at how smooth things went and how great everything was. Thank you Ms. Swanson. You rock!

In addition to having a great event JMS walked away with some hardware! Thanks to all of the hard work of our coaches and kiddos we placed 2nd overall. We placed and earned points in almost every event in all grade levels. This is amazing! I am one very proud principal and you should all be proud of how well JMS represented.

We will get some photos of the kids this week.

This is only the beginning!

Monday:

2:00 - Lockdown Drill

6:00 - Bullying Prevention Parent Night

Thursday:

5:00 - Boys Basketball at Home

5:00 - Girls Basketball at Salado

Our Counselors recently shared some information on Purple Sense. This is a great way for students, staff, and parents to let them know if someone is in need. Below is a link that will also take you to the site.

Purple Sense

The end of the school year is always very busy and this year is no exception. Below you will find a timeline of events that we have coming up and all of the test dates. I encourage you to keep the link close by as things may change.

In addition your student may tell you that our admin team is meeting with them discussing their STAAR scores from last year and how they are progressing this year. We are also setting some goals with them and providing them with tutoring information. I am pleased to say that so far the students are taking these conversations to heart and are working hard. We've only just begun and it will take several weeks for us to finish the conferences. Below you will also find a tutoring schedule for our staff for the Spring semester.