"Education is not the filing of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." -William Butler Yeats
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Monday, January 19, 2015

Today, we honor...

Despite not being in session today in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we still take time to reflect on the many wonderful things Dr. King, Jr. did for our country. His many words of wisdom still guide us today and are so important to our students:

"If you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character -- that is the goal of true education."

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

And, arguably his most well-known words...

"I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

Friday, January 9, 2015

New Year, New Choices...

We got right back to work this week after having two weeks off! Everyone was glad to be back and ready to talk about their goals for 2015. Students were given time to consider what their new goals would be and were able to compare their new goals to last year's. The start of a new year is a great time to reflect. Consider your own goals for this year. How have your goals changed from last year's?

Our character trait for January is responsibility, and along with celebrating the new year, our students are being asked to make new choices. When we talk about their responsibility when making choices, we focus on making good choices for ourselves and for our community. To encourage responsibility, each student at The Brandon Foundation is being given a special task to complete during our program; they're learning how to be trusted with responsibilities that foster good choices. Making good choices can be challenging, but our students are learning that making good choices is a part of growing up and becoming responsible.

On the 17th of January, we are going to volunteer at the SPCA. We have several animal lovers in our program, so we're excited to see how much they enjoy working with and helping the animals. Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates on this event, as well as upcoming events.

We will also be continuing our basketball program with Always 100 and our reading with Kava the dog every other Monday. The students love both of these programs and have really built some incredible relationships by participating in both!

Join our students in learning about responsibility and what it takes to "cross the line" by watching this short video here. Will you "cross the line," too?