Video: Tradition of Excellence

With a new school year beginning we want to share a video with you as we work to build on Lorena ISD's Tradition of Excellence.

Tradition of Excellence Video

Show Transcript

walk through our hallways step into our classrooms see our students perform and you'll realize this place is different it's special we talk about Lena isd's tradition of Excellence but what does that mean and more importantly who makes it happen it's not a slogan it's a living breathing commitment brought to life by all of us everybody's been hired to do a job you know do your job uh with a tremendous amount of effort and I think that's something that each 1 of us have to bring every day that we walk in the door uh do you always feel like it no obviously we don't but even on the days we don't feel like it we owe it to those kids to show up every day and give it best effort is at whatever we may do and uh I used to tell our kids all the time in football I said I can coach X's and O's and techniques and plays and set coverages can't coach effort and I think that's true with every employee in the organization day whether you're on the school board or you're in superintendent's chair or you're the principal or you're whoever you happen to be in the whole realm of this is just uh working hard to give the tremendous amount of effort that separates Arena from a lot of other players is because quite honestly it is a different place actually whenever I played here in baseball our shirt said tradition of Excellence uh the year 1 state and then also the thing I think of when I think of Lorena is heart because may not be the biggest fastest strongest but we're going to give you everything we got and find a way our tradition of Excellence is most vividly seen in the faces of our students our dedication our compassion our hard work it all translates into an environment where students feel seen supported and inspired to achieve great things you're not just performing a job you're shaping Futures I feel like this community and this city affected me so much I mean it made it made me into the person that I am you know I am who I am because of Lorina yes other stepping stones along the way but I was raised here I was raised with the community that I'm in now raised by the the admin and the teachers that I am working with now and that's that's what brought me back I wanted to have that same impact on kids lives that I had when I was growing up this is my I believe 33rd year here I wanted my kids to come to school here I wanted them to have the same values taught to them we learned from we were in school here and this is where we wanted them to be and then I wanted to have their hours and their holidays and there's not a day that goes by that I've ever regretted decision about coming to Lorena because it's just a great place to be well Lina is not the biggest place on the map and we're okay with that we embrace our small town values we like back to school bashes and homecoming parades and passing on the leopard spirit we may be a small school district by numbers but we have high expectations and accomplish big things I think it's what makes Lorina special I think we are a small town still in our minds whether we like to admit or Not that we're still a small town but you're right big things happen when our kids come to school here they're successful they graduate and go on to wonderful colleges my own did went to Great universities and in fact 1 after getting his PhD came back to teach at Lorina um and I said Greg why do you want to come back and teach at Lina and he said because I want to give back to the place that gave me so much Lena ISD has enjoyed success on many different levels our students have received academic recognition LISD has received District of Distinction recognition for visual arts we have athletic Award winners and even national champions from the family career and Community leaders of America competition we're not like every other school district we do things the leopard way as we work to educate our students don't cut Corners again we put the kids first and I I think that's a huge part of what we try to do is benefit our our kids because we're trying to prepare them for life not just to pass a test or win a ball game or but you know in their setbacks things happen uh and we have to be able to navigate life and I think Elena we do a good job with our our kids of you know holding a high bar holding an expectation level up here uh but also understanding hey they're going to be failures and setbacks got to get up and dust off bounce up and let's keep working and I I think 1 of the things that I've always loved about our kids here because they're Fighters they're not quitters they are Fighters as we look forward let's remember that our shared commitment to Excellence is what helps Define Marina ISD it's about the high standards we set for ourselves the unwavering support we offer each other and the impact we have on our community