/SKOOLD/ to be educated . guided . prepared

Kennedy High School's athletic director, Aaron Stecker, asked me to be the keynote speaker at their student leadership retreat event on Tuesday, October 29th. KHS has embraced the theme, "Be Uncommon" to define what it means to be a Cougar. According to Dictionary.com,  "What does it mean to be uncommon? est. not common; unusual; rare: an  uncommon  word. unusual in amount or degree; above the ordinary: an  uncommon  amount of mail. exceptional; remarkable." Exceptional. Remarkable. Wow...what does it mean when we witness something exceptional or remarkable? Something that we would not expect, and it captures our hearts so quickly that we almost lose our breath? There are posts on Facebook or Twitter that appear to fit the "uncommon" definition: two toddlers running to each other on the sidewalk to embrace or a group of soccer players huddling around an opponent on the field to help her.  My question is, how many moments of "uncommon"...

I was invited to Wright Elementary School last week by the teacher-librarian to "judge" renditions of book characters created out of potatoes. That's right! Not clay, not Mr. Potato Head figures, but actual potatoes. It was certainly an offer I could not resist...I was picturing in my mind what the potential creations could be prior to my visit. My imagination did not even come close to the amazing creations developed by each classroom at Wright Elementary! As I was greeted by the teacher-librarian, Ms. Davis, I could see the collection of characters displayed on a table. I approached the lineup and could not stop my laughter, squeals of amazement, and clapping. Needless to say, I was certainly a disruption to the library environment. There was a tremendous challenge in selecting the "winners" of the potato creations; however, the decision landed with the characters who really embraced the integrity of the original potato. Every character deserved a prize, q...