Time Machine

 Good morning, good afternoon and good day. I guess it depends on the time of day you are reading this blog. Whatever time of day it is, thank you for reading. I usually don't put one blog out right after another, but I wanted to stick with the "Coronavirus burnout" theme and try to give all of us a different perspective and help us deal with it. On my way in this morning, I heard on the radio, a gentleman speaking about his 8 year old daughter and her swim lessons. She had just finished a pretty tough lesson on underwater swimming and was pretty frightened during the lesson. On their way home, she was sitting in the backseat and said to her dad, "I wish there was a time machine". Dad found that interesting and asked her, "really, what year would you want to go to?". The daughter said, "not that kind of time machine, but one that would let me skip all the scary parts of life". Isn't that such a neat statement from an innocent child. It got me thinking though and it also reminded me of an old Garth Brooks song, "The Dance".

In the song, "The Dance", it says; "Our lives are better left to chance, I could have missed the pain but I'd have to miss the dance". I started to think how this pandemic is affecting all of us and could this just be a part of our life that later on we will realize how much we learned from it and how much we have grown from it. I'm not saying that I am glad we have the virus, but maybe we can look at how blessed we are with other things in our life, both before the virus and after it is gone. I know many of you have heard a little bit about my life and the family losses I have been through. Both my parents have passed on and I have lost five brothers and a sister. The individual pain of each one of them passing is tough to deal with, especially when they first die. However, if I was promised that I could skip the pain of my siblings deaths and funerals, but the stipulation is that they were never born...I would never ever accept that offer. I feel that way when I listen to "The Dance". I look back on the memories of my siblings and I can laugh and smile at some of the crazy times we had. I wouldn't trade them for anything. 

So, if we did have the time machine, I think we would all just skip over 2020. But was there a "dance" somewhere in there. For myself, I think of all the awesome things our administration has done to get us to this point and still be in school. I think of the closeness that I have gotten with some of my friends and colleagues. I see a group of teachers constantly reaching out to help others during these tough times. I am witnessing a parent/teacher conference like I could have never imagined. We are all doing these conferences remotely and it is going together absolutely incredible. I am sitting at my monitor with a headset on and watching four different conferences and seeing the passion our teachers have for these students. I could go on and on as I know you could too. Take time to think about some of the positives that you are noticing , and that maybe would never have happened if it wasn't for the virus, and write those down. I wouldn't mind hearing about some of those positives. I really do believe that our lives are better left to chance.  

Don't Let Anxiety Win

 I decided to write this particular blog tonight just because I am starting to see more and more stress around the school and thought maybe there is something I could say that might help us all out. You would think that with our first quarter behind us and already into the second week of the second quarter, and all face to face learning, that we would be excited and relieved. Well I think all of us are pleased that we are able to keep meeting everyday at the school and not have to do online schooling, except for the few that are quarantined. But the fact remains that we have had a few positive cases and several students that had to quarantine. It seems like all of us are in fear that positive cases may increase and we will have to shutdown. I know that lingers over a lot of us. I know that the entire Covid crisis is creating stress on all of us. We are not living life the way we are used to. We don't go out to restaurants and sit down to eat. We are not going to sporting events and watching the students play soccer, football or other sports. Many of us are concerned about our elderly parents and loved ones. The dark mornings and colder weather don't help the situation either. 

Now with all that being said, I do have some things for you to think about as we struggle with these situations and thoughts. First of all, I can't promise that we will not shutdown in some way in the future. We are all doing a great job wearing the mask and social distancing at lunch, but we are not immune. Let all of us continue doing our absolute best as we attend each day, wearing mask properly, washing hands and social distancing. The fact is, we can only control certain things and I believe that is where a lot of the fear and worrying comes from. When we try to control things that are out of our control, that produces anxiety and worry. I have heard so many students say "what if this happens" or "what if that happens". I just want all of you to know that our administration is doing everything in their power to keep all of us safe and keep us attending regularly. 

One of the big things to controlling our anxiety is by not allowing our thoughts to scare us or take over our lives. There is a game that anxiety plays and there are four rules to the game. These four rules will ensure that anxiety wins. If you believe these four rules, anxiety wins.

1. If any fearful thought pops up, take it seriously.

2. Once you are scared or worried, try to get rid of these feelings

3. Assume you don’t have what it takes to solve this problem, so back away.

4. Anytime you feel anxiety, assume that there is danger.

The way to defeat each of these statements is by using the following remedies:

1. If any fearful thought pops up, take it seriously.

1. A thought is a thought

2. Once you are scared or worried, try to get rid of these feelings.

1. Observe anxiety

3. Assume you don’t have what it takes to solve this problem, so back away.

1. Combat avoidance - it maintains the fear structure

4. Anytime you feel anxiety, assume that there is danger

1. Push through anxiety - don’t trust it.

Say to yourself, "okay I'm anxious, no big deal - I will survive it. I really hope all of you will look at all the wonderful things that you do have in your life. Realize that you were able to wake up today and have breakfast, ride to school, be with friends. Think about your loved ones that you can still have conversations with, spend time with. For the staff, think about the blessings in your life and maybe write those down. You will be surprised how long the list is. How many can hug their grandchildren and feel that intense love. For the students; why don't you make a list of all the good things going on in your life right now. Again, you will be amazed at the length of the list. I just want to tell you, we will be back to normal. We will enjoy gatherings with friends and family. We will once again have big weddings and parties. I don't have an answer to when this will be, but we are closer than when we first began this crisis. In the mean time, count your blessings and laugh with others, stay off the news and don't play the Anxiety game. If you need to talk, you know I will always be there for you. Peace!

 

National Technical Honor Society 2020

 On Tuesday evening, October 6th, Vantage Career Center held our annual National Technical Honor Society induction ceremony. The National Technical Honor Society (NTHS) is a way to honor student achievement and leadership in career and technical education, promote educational excellence, award scholarships and enhance career opportunities for the NTHS membership. Obviously this year we could not celebrate like we usually do with a complete banquet, but none the less, we still honored these outstanding students. 

To become an NTHS member, a student must first be carrying a 3.5 GPA or above, have 95% attendance for their Junior and Senior years, no discipline problems in both years and have passed all of their End of Course Exams. If the student meets the above mentioned criteria, then they must write an essay stating why they feel they belong in the NTHS, have three teacher recommendations, submit a resume and complete their application. Once all of this is turned in, a committee of teachers and staff meet to discuss each candidate and determine which students best represent the National Technical Honor Society.

As a member of the National Technical Honor Society, each member has met the seven character attributes, and at the induction ceremony, vowed to continue these attributes. They are: Skill, Honesty, Service, Responsibility, Leadership, Citizenship and Scholarship.

I am so proud of these students because they have made so many great choices in their lives. They not only have been successful here at Vantage and their home school, but I know they will be successful in their future college or work careers. To think about what all these students have gone through this last year, with the shutdown, mask wearing, social distancing, etc., they still have managed to achieve the highest honor we can bestow upon our students. This class will always be special in my eyes. If you happen to see these students in the hallway, in your classes, or in the community, please congratulate them on a great high school career and a great honor in being selected for the National Technical Honor Society. This is a very small percentage of our student body, but they truly are the best of the best.

These are the NTHS members for 2020-2021:

Macein Bigham (Van Wert), Brok Bill (Lincolnview), Riley Boroff (Lincolnview), Johnathon Buehrer (Antwerp), Jordan Buerkle (Antwerp), Kaylee Buzard (Jefferson), Cameron Cox (Wayne Trace), Halie Davis (Antwerp), Kamree Dockery (Continental), Jayde Ducheney (Lincolnview), Courtney Ebbeskotte (St. John), Catelyn Etter (Continental), Faith Gamble (Ottoville), Georgia Gangwer (Parkway), Jason Geyer (Antwerp), Hunter Grant (Antwerp), Connor Haselman (Ottawa Glandorf), Makenna Jones (Antwerp), Laura Kimmet (Ottoville), Kylee Klenz (Ottoville), Greg Lammers (Wayne Trace), Rylyn Lengacher (Antwerp), Chase Martin (St. John), Kara McDonald (Wayne Trace), Bryce Mihm (Parkway), Carson Miller (Ottoville), Eli Molitor (Antwerp), Adriana Myers (Van Wert), Christopher Piske (Lincolnview), Bryce Recker (Continental), Kaitlin Reed (Antwerp), Dylan Schimmoller (Lincolnview), Michaela Shawhan (St. John), Kay'l Sibold (Parkway), Xander Stemen (Lincolnview), Killian Sudduth (Van Wert), Hunter Tegenkamp (Continental), Kaiden Trentman (Ottoville), Tygre Troyer (Continental), Bailee Wallace (Van Wert), Hayden Ward (Continental), Reed Warnement (Continental), Derek Weyrauch (Ft. Jennings), Lydia Will (Ft. Jennings), Hannah Zickefoose (Lincolnview).