2017 校友 Service Award Recipient Ian McDade ’91 reflects on his relationship with 彩乐园2app下载
于2017年5月27日在今年的毕业典礼上发表 I would like to first thank the alumni board for bestowing upon me this tremendous award. I recognize how fortunate I am to join past recipients of this award. 我还要感谢我的家人. Victoria and I try and instill in our three children the importance of giving back, but that wouldn’t be possible without my family’s sacrifice. Every hour spent on NCS is an hour not spent with one’s family, so I want to thank my family for the sacrifices they have made for NCS so that I can stand before you today and accept this award. I would also like to thank my fellow board members and my partners on the Audit, Compliance and Policy Committee for their sacrifices and the hard work they have put into North Cross. 最后, I would like to recognize the contribution of staff members like Chris Proctor, Karen List and so many others who have done a remarkable job in improving the school. 没有一所学校是完美的,我们还没有完成改进, but we have come a long way and we are moving in the right direction. The last few weeks have felt like a graduation for me as well. 你们有些人知道, after 10 years in Roanoke and many cancelled flights home, 我们要搬去夏洛特了, and I couldn’t think of a better way to go out then to receive this award. I was driving across Michigan in the rain when Lee Huff called me to let me know that I had been selected to receive this award. I had a couple of hours of driving ahead of me and my mind wandered to memories from long ago. I thought of 1978 when my family moved to Roanoke and enrolled me in NCS, 在低年级的操场上玩耍, the friendships from my years at NCS that are still so important to me, the teachers and coaches who pushed me to be more than I thought I could be, 26年前我自己的毕业典礼, 以及我们的孩子在NCS度过的美好时光. You learn a lot about people and institutions like NCS when you leave a place. 的朋友, 的地方, and the things that are important to you really come into focus, and you appreciate more than you otherwise would have what is truly special and valuable to you. 彩乐园2app下载是一个特别的地方. But institutions like NCS are only special because the people behind them are special. 我想举两个例子. Many people at NCS contributed to our transition to Charlotte but I’d like to highlight the efforts of Ed Dickenson and Jennifer 幸运的. Ed was my coach as well as our daughter, Wynne’s coach. 他对我们俩来说都是一位鼓舞人心的教练, and I give him a lot of credit for the wonderful year Wynne had in 6th grade. We did not ask Ed to write a letter of recommendation for Wynne, but we should have. Without prompting he wrote a wonderful letter of recommendation for Wynne that the 入学s team specifically mentioned when she was accepted by her first choice. 我不能说足够的长度. 拉吉去帮助我们最小的儿子泰迪了. Teddy is 4 and won’t remember this but he did not exactly ace his school interviews in Charlotte. 然而,他得到了第二次机会. 幸运的像对待自己的孩子一样接受了这个项目. You would have thought he was applying for the Apollo Space Program. 他必须写下自己的名字, 画不同的形状, cut in a circle and more - tough tasks for a four year old. Ms. 拉吉做了大量的研究, and sent us long emails about the progress she and Teddy were making. She was deadly serious about his second interview - probably more serious than his parents. 在她的大力帮助下. 幸运的 Teddy will be going to school with his sisters this fall. No one was more pleased than to hear that news than Ms. 幸运的. 这就是NCS的特别之处. Ed Dickenson and Jennifer 幸运的 didn’t have to go the extra mile, 特别是对于一个即将离开学校的家庭, but they did and that says a lot about them and North Cross. 这确实是一个特别的地方. I’ll conclude and turn the focus back to the graduates by simply saying that I have gotten more out of this experience than the school has received from me. It has been challenging at times but well worth the effort. Thank you to all of those involved with the school for all that you do, 把我们的孩子照顾得这么好, 这份荣誉. 为NCS服务是我的荣幸, 它在很好的人手里, and I wish all members of the community the best in the years to come.
5个评论
|