The Hill Academy Newsletter- February 21st, 2021

February 21st, 2021 HILL Message (from Academic Director Rick Kunc): It was a short week, but it was great to be back on campus. We had a snow day, opened our new portables, shovelled off the lake for some pond hockey, welcomed some new student-athletes and some new faculty/staff, had a visit from Peel Public Health and even started some winter outside training. Just our typical slow week at The Hill. I saw students leading from the front taking the initiative to help clean tables at lunch and in classrooms. I saw groups of students leading from the middle as they chatted away while walking back from the lake all wearing masks. And I saw students leading from the back, quietly asking for a break outside because their mask was bothering them. Many of our leaders are great because of the attitude they bring. They believe in their team, their colleagues, their peers. They know that we all face challenges, and the attitude we bring can mean the difference between success and failure. Peel Public Health recognized the unique challenges that we face as a school and they were very complementary of our policies and procedures that are in place to keep our staff and students safe while allowing them to participate in athletics and academics in a meaningful way. I had the opportunity to chat with some students on Thursday to get a sense of how being back at school was working for them. They were “excited”, “happy to see their friends”, “looking forward to actually playing”, “sick of wearing masks”, “already tired of training with a mask”, “don’t want to be told to stay away from each other”, “want to play actual lacrosse games again”, “don’t want to keep being told to spread out at tables” and they “just want it to go back to normal”. I was filled with joy when one student said, “but I want to stay back at school, so let's just suck it up”. We know it isn’t that easy for everyone. We will continue to pause, and make sure that we are listening to the challenges and frustrations that our students are facing as we are back on campus. We need students to continue to lead from the front, middle and back, taking a pause before the start of each day, and walking into the building with the attitude that they need to be successful.

Quote of the Week: Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure. -Norman Vincent Peale -- author best-selling book The Power of Positive Thinking ____________________________________________________________________________