Being Olympic Students

The summer Olympics have arrived in London, England. Personally, I love the Olympics. I really enjoy watching the athletes compete at the highest level. They have been training for this moment for the past four years. Basically round the clock training in their specific sport. No social life. No life whatsoever besides training and preparing. To be an Olympic athlete, a huge amount of sacrifice is required. A huge amount of dedication is required. When you watch the Olympics, think about how much each athlete has put in to be there, representing their country, on the world athletic stage. These athletes have been focused and driven for 4 years. We, as teachers, ask our students to be focus and driven for 9 months. Olympic athletes are special because of the amount of work and sacrifice they put in. I want you to be Olympic students. How does one become an Olympic student? Well, its a simple answer, but tough to execute. Being an Olympic student means you dedicate yourself to working hard for 9 months. An Olympic athlete puts in a lot of training with lifting weights, running, swimming, etc. An Olympic student needs to be in a lot of training time, but of a different sort: reading, studying, learning, searching, discovering, etc. You don't need to lift weights with your arms, but with your brain. An Olympic student actively searches out new things and does the work required of them. The Olympic athlete never takes their eyes of their "prize", which is the Olympics. As an Olympic student, your "prize" is not a letter grade. Your "prize" is not a big athletic competition. Your "prize" is simply making yourself a better student. Your "prize" is expanding your knowledge. At the end of the school year, will you be able to look back and say to yourself, "I worked as hard as I could to get the most out of my opportunity to learn this year." Very few people have the physical gifts to make it to the real Olympics. But we all have it in ourselves to be Olympic students, friends, teachers, and people.