SUPER MONDAY

A motivational and informational morning message from Superintendent Willis

Week 2 ~ August 19th, 2024

Super Monday Message

Thanks for a great start to the 2024-2025 school year last week. This week the baseball team is playing an alumni game for a fundraiser Friday night that should be a lot of fun. Recently the U.S. News team released their 2024 state rankings. They rank states in 8 different categories using a wide variety of data sources. Utah was ranked the best state in the nation overall and the number two state in the nation for quality education (Link to article). We live in a great state.

The 2024 summer olympics in Paris have come to an end. This year we learned that Utah will host the winter olympics again in 2034. Utah had several athletes in the Paris games and connections to many others. Many in Piute County tuned in to watch Whittni Morgan from Panguitch place 6th in the preliminary heat and then 14th in the final for the 5000m race. The Olympics have so many inspiring stories it would be difficult to tell them all. I do want to tell three very quick, less recent olympic stories about a marathon runner, a paralympic archer, and a lifeguard.

First, the archer. The 1992 olympic torch lighting is widely considered the most epic lighting of the olympic torch. Prior to the opening ceremony the organizers held trials for an archer to shoot an arrow over the crowd and just above the olympic caldron. The natural gas of the caldron would be turned on just before the shot, meaning that the shot didn’t have to be perfect, but very close. 200 archers were narrowed down to 4. Those four archers were all prepared to fire the shot that would light the caldron. Two hours before the ceremony began, Antonio Rebollo, a paralympic archer was selected to take the shot. The eyes of the entire world were on him as he stood on the olympic stage with his bow. The arrow was lit by the olympic torch and Antonio took aim. He fired the shot over the heads of thousands of spectators and the olympic cauldron was ignited in dramatic spectacular fashion by his arrow.

Second, the lifeguard. For the US Olympic swimming trials this year, a 73 year old named Kirk Kavanaugh took to the side of the pool as a lifeguard. Kirk trained hard and became a master swimmer and volunteer for the Olympic trials. During the Rio games in 2016, the Olympic lifeguards were mocked as the most pointless job in town. However, Kirk said that he became a master swimmer and olympic lifeguard because he was inspired by the story of someone even older who had done the same.

Third, the marathon runner. Everyone now knows there are fast runners from Ethiopia. Well, in 1960 they had never won an olympic medal. A runner named Abebe Bikila was considered lucky to have made the Ethiopian team for the 1960 Olympic games in Rome. He searched for shoes in Rome, but could not find shoes that fit him. He considered running with a pair that weren’t quite the right size, but on race day he decided to just run barefoot. Abebe had frequently trained running barefoot and was not concerned about it. Despite his underdog status, he passed the leader in the last portion of the race and ended up winning by 25 seconds. He set a world record time and later said that he felt he could have run another 10-15 km. When asked about the barefeet he stated simply that “Ethiopia has always won with determination and heroism”.

In the first story, the whole world was watching and the expectations were as high as it’s possible to be. Perfection was the only acceptable outcome. In the second story there was virtually no pressure, as it’s not too often that an olympic swimmer needs help in the pool. Nevertheless, the old lifeguard was inspired by an older lifeguard. In the last story, the expectations were low, but the results made a new national hero in Ethiopia. Our students get to experience activities with a lot of different levels of expectations. They also experience a lot of different outcomes. In all of the learning and extracurricular activities there are opportunities to grow as an individual and to inspire others. Have the best week 2!

Super High Fives

Just a couple of the awesome recent accomplishments that need a big thank you. 

• A super high five to Keisha Gleave and the new student body officers at Piute High School. They got the school year started well, presented to the school board, and made a lot of fun plans for the school year.
• A super high five to the surgeons and staff that have worked on our Mr. James Barney. He had to have a kidney removed due to a persistent and painful medical condition. We’re grateful the surgery went well and look forward to his recovery.
• A super high five to Yadis Monroy. Yadis had to move, but we’re grateful for the 5 years she worked at Circleville Elementary. She was great working with our students and we wish her good fortune for the future.

Other Super Information

• Fall Sports Calendar 2024
• 2024-2025 School District Calendar
• Truth-In-Taxation Hearing Presentation
• Latest Elementary Schools Design Draft
• New Elementary Schools Information

Super Weekly Schedule