"Critical Friend" Kevin

Last week, the Borgia and Beyond parent advisory meeting focused on student faith was quite uplifting. The parents in attendance were excited to talk about the ways Catholic schools had enhanced the faith lives of their children, and our conversations focused on preparing our students to live that faith in the world beyond Borgia. To begin the meeting, parents took the time to symbolically represent what it looks like when a student is guided by faith. Using ginger-bread outlines, the parents places items on the ginger-bread men that represented "what it looks like" when a student is guided by faith. The items these parents incorporated ranged from rosaries to "big hearts," to "dirty boots," and even armor. While the first two of these symbols may immmediately make sense, the latter two may need some more explaining.  The group discussed how students have to have the "armor" to stand up for their faith, and for their beliefs. They also discussed

This morning with my advisory I shared a video featuring Natalie Gilbert, a teenage girl who forgot the words to the National Anthem in front of 20,000 people at an NBA playoff game in 2003. She was not a professional singer; she was a young lady who won a contest giving her the opportunity to "feel like a star." And while I'm sure she would have preferred to have had a perfect performance, the result of her "failure" was a response that makes you feel good about being a human. If you would like to check that video out, you can view it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4880PJnO2E  This video is one of my favorites on You Tube because it is not just a video that shows humans reacting kindly to one of their own in her time of need, but also because it is a video that I can relate to in a lot of ways, as an educator. About 48 seconds into the video, the look on her face is one that I have seen many times before. This is the point where Natalie Gilbert recognizes that