Ashley Montagu, the anthropologist, defined education in these words:  “To nourish and cause to grow.”  I am of the opinion that the art of education is to continue to grow as long as we live.  We need to grow from what we are to what we desire to be.  I like to think of it terms of, Live to Learn and Learn to Live!”  We must in today’s society grow a larger concept of education.  Every moment brings its lesson, every person is a teacher, every place is a classroom and our university is our universe.  With that in mind we must grow in all directions and cultivate the whole man.  There must be a develop of a desire for goodness, an eagerness for knowledge, a capacity for friendship, an appreciation for beauty and finally a concern for your fellow man.

One must grow in their love of learning.  Carlyle wrote, “Love is ever the beginning of Knowledge, as fire is of light.”  Remember the Chinese proverb that talks of growing an inquisitive mind.  “He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question is a fool forever.”  It would seem to me you can learn from everyone and everything.  Grow in awareness by keeping the channels of your senses alert to all that goes on outside of you.  One must grow in new directions, but always cherishing the past.  Do not stagnate in the backwash of outworn traditions, but respect the past and learn all of the lessons it has taught you—–then be alive to inquiry and change and GROW, GROW, GROW!

Grow in the deeper levels of the human spirit:  contemplation, insight, intuition and prayer.  Spirit rises out of structures of consciousness that are receptive to the vision of good.    Grow in WISDOM and UNDERSTANDING!  Grow through all your years.  Take inspiration from Michelangelo, who created works of art unequaled by any other man and yet, in his ninetieth year, regretted that he must die just when he was beginning to learn the ABC’s of being a sculptor and painter.  Thus, GROW! Man is never finished.  Man never arrives, but most importantly, Education never stops!  Go get them Roughnecks—“Never, ever, ever Give Up!”

You need to remember, “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think!”  It won’t take any of you long to realize that “Life isn’t about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself!” The faculty and staff have borrowed from many great minds throughout time but there are several we try to remind our student body on a daily basis:

• CHARACTER is Power!
• When the CHARACTER of a person is not clear to you—-LOOK AT HIS/HER FRIENDS!
• CHARACTER consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.
• I CAN is 100 times more important than IQ.
• If it is not right, do not do it.  If is not true do not say it!
• When all is said and done, the one thing you ! left is your CHARACTER!

As the first semester ends, I would be remiss not to say “THANKS!-THANKS!-THANKS!” to every Faculty, Staff & Student at White Oak High School.  I have shared before, “there are no secrets to Success!”  Success is doing the things you know you should do!——-and——–Success is not doing the things you know you should not do!

In the area of Athletics, I need to PRAISE Coach Tracy Blankenship in providing the Leadership, Knowledge and Support needed for a ” Total Athletic Program !”  I watched Coach Blankenship and his Staff accept the challenge of the difficult—or as Phillips Brooks states—-“Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.  Pray for powers equal to your tasks.  Then doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.”

This fall our student/athletes functioned under Longfellow’s words—“Doing what you do well, and doing well whatever you do!”  We do have GREAT athletes, but we have athletes that do a GREAT JOB!”  Our coaching staff continually develops every part of our student/athletes lives—Body, Mind, Heart, Spirit & Soul.  10-15 years from now our young men and women will remember the Character, Values, Honesty, Humility, Faith, Courage, and most of all LOVE that was taught to each of them by their teacher/coaches. 

Our student/athletes have learned the meaning of WORK!  It is realizing that nothing happens wntil people go to work.  They were shown that WORK done well opens doors to new opportunities and paves the way to successes and bigger and better things. 

Our student/athlete has learned how to think.  They are learning to realize “as man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”  By setting no limits to your thinking our young men and women have big thinking precedes big achievement.  They have taught our student/athletes that success is not forever and failure isn’t fatal. 

Our teacher/coaches do not suffer from the “Peter Principal!” According to the peter principal, people tend to rise to their level of imcompetence.  This principal would let a White Oak teacher/coach off the hook——Not So @ WO!  Our teacher/coaches are committed to helping  everyone win!  When someone fails, they accept responsibility for that failure.  It is so refreshing to be a part of the White Oak Family as we all remember our main job is to help our people succeed in our goals—-and to realize when we people accomplish their goals and win, everyone wins!

ANOTHER—

THANKS!  THANKS!  THANKS

In the area of Band and Choir, Jason Steele and Ruthie Vinson have brought these programs this year to areas most people are scared to go——————————-because they might they be asked to go there again.  They have shown each of the members how to discover their best talents, skills and abilities.  Steele and Vinson have shown their students how to harness FEAR.  Fear, like the wild horse that needs a tight rein, for it is both friend and foe, both good and evil and to be successful they had to be taught how to master it.  They learned how to master the  fear of insecurity, defeat and failure  as a lash and spur to high achievement.  Our band developed into a Division I Band by practicing the principle of “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain!” 

It is obvious that these two fine instructors have taught our students to make the most of themselves by fanning the tiny spark of possibility within themselves into the flame of achievement.  They have seen each moment of your life is a brush stroke in the painting of your life.  There are the bold, sweeping strokes of one increasing dynamic purpose—being something bigger than yourself.  There are the lights and shadows that make your life deep and strong.  There are the little touches that add the stamp of character and worth——the Art of Achievement is the art of making like—your life—a masterpiece!

Merry Christmas to all and may God be your LIGHT in 2010!

“I Believe” has been the foundation for the most of my life.  Monday evening, November 9, 2009, I tried to understand why God has been so good to White Oak High School.  The Roughnecks and Ladynecks have enjoyed as much, or more, success as they have ever had.  As I did my devotional Tuesday morning I read several verses that assured me it ok to expect success———————but you better not forget that all of that success is to glorify a higher being.  All that being said, it all comes back for the essense of my life——“I BELIEVE!

All that I have seen, wrote Emerson, “teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”  Believing is a daring adventure into the unseen, it is a radiant faith in the unexplored, the undiscovered, the miracles of the future………….I continue to remind every student/athlete/musician—-Roughneck that there in magic in Believing!

Believe!  Engrave these words of the Master in your memory:  “All things are possible in him that believes.”  Believe in the limitless supply of God’s goodness.  The universe is filled with more wonders than you can imagine.  Project a mental picture of your goal in life.  Believing is a creative force that brings the visible out of the invisible.  You must believe to achieve. 

Believe!  An old Latin proverb reads:  “Believe that you have it and you have it.”  There is a mental magnet within you that attracts to you what you are.  Doubt attracts doubt and faith attracts faith.  Have faith in others and you will inspire them to have faith in you.  Remember—–you may be deceived if you trust to much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough!

Believe!  Believe in life’s endurin g values.  Stand up and be counted for the things that count.  Believe that you are big enough to master any problem; that you can handle life.  Believe that you can go on growing now and through all eternity. 

Believe!  The magic of believing is for you.  Where is the man who will save up?  We want a man!  Don’t look so far for this man.  You have him at hand.  This man, it is you, it is I, it is all of us!  It is White Oak High School!

BELIEVE!

PRINICIPAL BLESSINGS

There are no secrets of success. Success is doing the things you know you should do. Success is not doing the things you should not do. Success is not limited to any one area of your life. It encompasses all of the facets of your relationsships; as parent, as wife or husband, as student, as teacher and yes——–even a High School Principal.

Success is not confined to any one part of your personality but is related to the development of all the parts: Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit. It is making the most of your total self. Success is discovering your best talents, skills and abilities and applying them where they willmake the most effective contribution to your fellow man. In the words of Longfellow—it is “doing what you do well, and doing well whatever you do!”

Such is the case when you realize SUCCESS is harnessing your heart to a task you love to do. It is falling in love with your work. It demands intense concentration on your chief aim in life. It is focusing the full power of all you are on what you have a burning desire to achieve. Success is ninety-nine per cent mental attitude. It calls for love, joy, optimism, confidence, serenity, poise, faith, courage, cheerfulness, imagination, initiative, tolerance, honesty, humility, patienc and enthusiasm. Success is having the courage to meet failure without being defeated. It is refusing to let present loss interfere with your long-range goal.

Success is relative and individual and personal. It is your answer to the problem of making your minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years add up to a great life. Success is accepting the challenge of the difficulty. It would seems the most logical philosophy to SUCCESS would be those of Phillip Brooks: “Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but You Shall Be The Miracle.”

With all this being said I can’t help but share with the world just how fortunate the students of White Oak High School are each and everyday. Our students lives and well being are of the utmost importance to the Faculty & Staff of WOHS, along with how every student will attack life situations on a daily basis. Our staff realize that not every student will need everything they will be exposed to, but they are willing to share their wisdon and experience to face these exposures.

The weight of SUCCESS is HUMILITY and our students realize humility begins with a recognition of our dependnece on others and an appreciation of God’s gift of life. The faculty and staff at all levels–be it Academics, Fine Arts and/or Academics, spend many hours stressing that our success comes with a price:
1. Humility comes when he/she realizes millions of men, in thousands of battles, have given their lives to
make us free.
2. When they become aware of the enormous debt they owe to others who have labored through the
through the ages to fashion the world they live in.
3. When he/she acknowledges that he/she is the heir of infinite riches he/she did not crete.
4. When he/she knows so little about so much he becomes teachable. open-minded, and flexible.
5. When he/she becomes grateful for the immeasurable contributions others have made to his/her life
is not blinded by arrogance and pride. He/she has greater vision because his/her ego does not get
in his/her way.

Being principal of White Oak High School makes be the luckest man in the world!

HOMECOMING HIGH SCHOOL UPCOMING ACTIVITIES–2009

OCTOBER 2, 2009 HOMECOMING EVENTS & TIMELINE

8:00 – 2:00 SELL TICKETS IN FRONT HALLAY OF HIGH SCHOOL
9:00 – ALL DAY EXE’S REGISTER AT DECADE TABLES IN FRONT HALLWAY

ITEMS FOR SALE IN FRONT HALLWAY–ALL DAY

Journalism Old Yearbooks
Sophomore Class Birthday/Anniversar Calendars
Football MOM’S T-Shirts
Band Homecoming MUMs, Water Bottles, Spirit Towels, Back Packs
Spaghetti Supper Tickets
Junior Class Stadium Chairs, Mum Pops
GRACE Relay for Life Donations (American Cancer Society)
Leadership Old tapes and films
Art Department Roughneck Items

October 2, 2009

9:30 – 11:30 EXE’S Brunch provided by WO Foundation in Library
12:45 – 1:30 Lunch in the cafeteria for EXE’S @ $3.00
2:30 Pep Rally
3:30 EXE’S Business Meeting in Cafeteria
3:30 Meet & Greet Coffee/Tea in Cafeteria during business meeting provided
by Band Boosters
4:30 – 6:30 Spaghetti Supper $5.00 per plate -Band Booster Fundraiser
6:00 Gates open to Roughneck Stadium
6:50 Pre-Game Homecoming Queen Ceremony
******Auditorium if RAIN
7:30 FOOTBALL GAME WITH UNION GROVE
Halftime Rocognize Special Guesta–Ex-Band Directors

October 3, 2009

10:30 a.m. Parade
11 – 4 Roughneck Days

As I sat  at the house Saturday and Sunday, I couldn’t keep from getting anxious about many of you coming back to White Oak High School and Homecoming 2009. My memories of  White Oak traditions in the areas of Academics, Athletics and Fine Arts are so positive.   It is so obvious that each of the graduation classes have passed on a responsibility of  ” Academic Excellence, Pride, and Tradition.” Tomorrow’s memory depends upon today’s impressions. The art of memory is seeking impressions which will enrich your life.  It is the art of remembering what will and forgetting what will hinder.  As I look at the whole process, your memory builds your personality, and your personality builds your character, and your character determines your destiny.  Memory is a record of your personal experiences.  It is a record of trial and error, defeat and success.  Past failures will warn you against repeating them.  Past victories will inspire you to set new marks of achievements.  Through memory you can focus the things you’ve learned in the past on the life you are living today.  Memory is something you create for others.  If you make individuals happy now, you’ll make them happy twenty years from now by the memory of it.  The quality of your life will determine the memories others will have of you.  Memory keeps the past alive; and a good past is a bundle of todays well lived.

Thanks to all White Oak Exes for the memories you have given————————-you have taught us well!

The dictionary is full of words. It is how words are used that makes a difference. Words can lift us into heaven or lower us into hell. “Good words anoint a man, ill words kill a man,” wrote John Florio. Words like White Oak Homecoming have a totally different meaning to Roughnecks than they the word does to a Pirate, Lobo, Panther, Bear, or Bulldog. White Oak has come to mean many different thing to different people. I get a very warm feeling around Roughnecks because White Oak is a unique way of life symbolic with the word SUCCESS.

White Oak High School provided the brushes, oils, pigments and the canvas on which Roughnecks have painted their lives as they wanted it to be. You choose your own colors, your own form, design an pattern. White Oak Roughnecks are a book in which you set down your life by the way you live it. You are the principal character, and you have lived your own biography. You have been given the right to be the hero or villain, great or mediocre.

White Oak has been the stage, and the role you have played in the drama of life has been up to you. The great thing about White Oak is they are like a big sports arena, and the rules are written so everyone has a chance to win. White Oak High School has been the sculptor’s hammer and chisel with which every Roughneck could fashion themselves into the person they wanted to become.

In my opinion White Oak High School has given each and everyone of us the ability to reach higher, think bigger, grow greater and live deeper than anywhere else on earth. Welcome Home Exes !

2009-2010 will be a year where your child will be

 “A Difference Maker!”