November/December 2020
Dear St. Francis family,
We are so blessed and happy to be here every day in person with your sons, and we appreciate your ongoing support as we begin another school year! My husband Tom and I worked at Orchard Park Middle School together for eight years. I had already been a teacher for a while before he began working as a special education aide. I knew how it felt to say goodbye to students at the end of the school year, especially eighth graders growing up and moving on to high school. Tom and I started a tradition there that continues to this day, where the teachers stand outside on the last day and wave goodbye to the busses.
The first year that we said our goodbyes and walked to the car, he looked at me and said, “I can’t believe that you have to do this every year.” I remember saying that even though it was sad, we were actually lucky to be in education, the only field of work where you get to end each year and then start fresh again. One of my favorite movies is You’ve Got Mail and I love the line that Tom Hanks’ character says, “Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to go out and buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.” I always associate the smell of new pencils, lunchboxes and patent leather shoes with the beginning of a new school year, and although quite different, here we are again.
In the face of our many unique challenges due to Covid this year, I shared a quote with our students on opening day that one of my administrative professors used to always say: “There will be no prizes for predicting rain. There will only be prizes for building arks.” I am sitting in my office facing the lake, and shutting the window due to a torrential downpour. It’s okay to let the rains fall and wash everything clean, because we are safe in the ark that we built at St. Francis, and we will continue to make it stronger.
Happy fall!
Dr. Mary Lou Stahl
St. Francis High School
Success Begins at St. Francis
