What a crazy week!  Just days away from Celebrating Successes, in the final stages of developing a $500,000 Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Mentoring Capacity Building Grant and determining critical adjustments to our $1 million a year Texas Education Agency 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant - but none of these were the highlight of my week. 

On Friday, several of us had the pleasure of telling one of our CISNT students that he’s been named CIS Texas Best of Texas Student of the Year by the Texas Education Agency.  Four of his teachers, his Principal, his CIS Program Manager, our 21st Century Community Learning Center Site Coordinator, our COO, our CFO and I watched as the emotion of his success and this recognition overcame him.

So how did it happen? Well, there are certainly several answers.  First, his school and the committed faculty never gave up on him.  Next, many resources poured out from the community over the years through CISNT programs for his benefit.  His mentor is certainly a huge factor in his success.  The CISNT Program Manager who constantly assessed needs and prescribed solutions for him is at the center of why this happened.  Probably, there are several other factors, but frankly, the largest answer lies with the student himself. 

He never gave up (repeating 9th grade yet he worked to catch up and he will graduate this June).  He never stopped working.  He never stopped trying.  He stayed engaged with everyone who wanted him to succeed.

I wish that every student we endeavor to help were like this student, unfortunately some are not.  When a student chooses to disengage from the learning process there is nothing we can do to help - the desire to succeed ultimately remains the choice of the student.

I think that is why I am so proud of our student of the year.  He inspires me.  Looking at his success makes me want to do my job better, to work harder, to gather more resources, to get more students more help.  To help more students who are at-risk of dropping out of school succeed.

I don’t think this will be the last great thing he does…