It’s Week Nine of our Sizzlin’ Summer Challenge and thus far, we have deemed it a roaring success. 
For the majority of school employees, this is also the first full week in your respective buildings. I can only imagine that with this week also comes a breadth of emotions, from the positive, such as excitement and enthusiasm; to the more difficult such as apprehension and disappointment.
Thus, it’s the perfect week to spend a bit of time with one of your role models. This may sound relatively simple but perhaps the role model who first comes to mind is far from accessible. Should that ring true, we assume you will be able to connect with someone, who you respect and would like to emulate.
I often wonder how many of Vermont’s school employees are committed to working with school-age youth because of a positive connection once made as a student with a teacher, para-educator, food service employee or an administrator. As I think back, I most admired Mrs. Gamble, my junior high physical education and health education teacher. She was tall, young, athletic and assertive and she encouraged me to participate in the Friday night ski trips and the girl’s swim team. Perhaps she is the reason I love working in health promotion and dipping all my toes into the pool.
Last week, I had the chance to spend time with another one of my role models. Thirty five years ago, Anita and I met at a League of Women Voter’s open house in Scituate, MA and bonded as community activists and as mothers of young children. When I asked her to send along a recent picture of us, she questioned my selection. “You see me as one of your role models?” And I immediately responded. “Absolutely – I love your energy, your sense of adventure, your keen ability to hear others, your openness and friendliness, how easy it is to converse about new ideas and the fact that we can get punchy together over nothing.” Last Monday, we hiked up onto the Tablelands at the Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland to experience what it feels like to walk upon the earth’s mantle and to welcome in the solar eclipse. Though Anita is a few years my senior, she easily climbed upward through multiple piles of jagged rocks to the first of many bowls without hesitation
. And as we patiently awaited the eclipse, we once again found plenty of sheer nothingness to laugh about.
See you on the PATH Ahead
The VEHI PATH team