Thank you Vianney Faculty & Staff! I'll Miss you all!

To the Vianney Faculty and Staff:

My time is winding down and the end is drawing near. I've spent days and weeks in tears trying to find the words to say good-bye! Trying to find the words that express my unwavering love for you all!

The time has come for me to go and grow! Something I've asked and challenged you to do each day for the last five years! While I'm excited about the next stage of my career, I would be dishonest if I didn't say I will miss you all terribly! I knew in my heart this day would come, I just never imagined it would come so quickly. It has taken me by surprise, as I'm sure it has taken you by surprise as well. So this blog is dedicated to YOU! My feeble attempt to express the love and appreciation I have in my heart for you. I hope in time I can tell you each face-to-face what my heart has felt all along!

Thank YOU for being a teacher, more importantly a Vianney

teacher and part of the St. John Vianney High School family. Five years ago I uprooted my family in great part because of the people in this building. I NEVER asked about our ACT scores, I never saw a curriculum map. Questions about enrollment, facilities, technology, and budgets, NEVER came out of my mouth. But the feeling of family was strong! From the moment I stepped on this campus in October 2010 I knew I wanted to be part of this special place. I wanted to be a Griffin!

You welcomed me and treated me like family from day one!
That feeling of family permeated my body and sustained me on drives back to Springfield and consumed my thoughts in the months I waited to receive "the phone call". YOU are what makes Vianney special. You are its heart and soul!

The last five years have been the most rewarding years of my life both professionally and personally!

Watching Lexi serve as the lone Vianney cheerleader has brought me endless joy and memories! She LOVED firing up the Griffins! She would fall asleep on car rides home as she sang the Fight Song!

God knows I loved and appreciated the opportunity to work with my dad on a daily basis! As a young adolescent I always dreamed of growing up and making my parents proud. I wanted to show them that their efforts and sacrifices were not wasted. I never imagined that my father would get the chance to see me LIVE my dream. That's an indescribable feeling!

Vianney brought my family to St. Louis and allowed Lexi to grow-up seeing her Paw-Paw & Maw-Maw whenever she wants! You cannot put a price on that! I will forever be grateful to Mike Loyet, the Board of Directors, and the Marianists for providing me this opportunity! A middle-class kid from Mehlville was able to serve as Vianney’s principal, work with his dad, and incorporate his family in to his work. That is the definition of a dream come true!

I’m also thankful to each of you. I can’t possibly begin to list all the amazing accomplishments you are responsible for!

Over the last five years, Vianney has witnessed an unprecedented period of improvement in student achievement, curriculum, facilities, and infrastructure. YOU helped us maximize each

student’s ACT score and potential! YOU improved the rigor of our curriculum from top to bottom, including the addition of 24 new courses, 12 new dual-enrollment classes, a variety of digital media classes, and multiple STEM classes. YOU made Vianney a National School of Excellence, A Model School for Brain-Based Education, and A Top 100 workplace in St. Louis!

THANK YOU!

Thank you for making me the LEAST important person in the building!

Thank you for being in the classroom, ready, prepared, and willing to serve. For having the art and the science to develop Men of Character and Accomplishment.

Thank you for your dedication and timeless efforts. Words like complacency and status quo are nonexistent at Vianney and that's because each of you will not allow such words to be spoken or actions to exist. 

Thank you for recognizing each individual student is unique and learns differently and for creating differentiated classrooms that engage our students.

Thank you for encouraging our students to push a little more, lengthen their reach, give a little more effort! That is often tiring

and tedious work that does not get headlines in the media. But it is good, honorable, important work that will sustain our young men their entire lives!

Thank you for taking the time to teach life’s lessons and for using teachable moments! So often in this fast paced, standards driven world of education so many people and schools have forgotten that our students and our works are about so much more than test scores. You each understand the greater role we play in educating young men to be servant leaders, good husbands, great fathers, and leaders in their communities.

Thank you for helping our students to be balanced people. Who are not just intellects who lose themselves in books, but productive humanitarians that see and aide in community and world problems. Who are so level-headed that when they grow older they'll know to appreciate family, and faith, and freedom and NOT fret the small things.

Thank you for volunteering at the athletic events, Architecture night, All-Night Graduation, Open house, Auction set-up, Cocoa

and Cram, Service Trips, and dozens of other school events. Thanks

for attending our student's athletic competitions,their musical and theatrical performances, and supporting their causes when they Battle Cancer or try to help the less fortunate in Nairobi or Nicaragua. You're teaching them that this is NOT JUST a school, but a family.

Thank you for being part of their retreat experiences and for modeling your faith on a daily basis. You are all such outstanding role-models for our young men!

Thank you for stretching yourself professionally, taking every stride in curriculum and evaluation changes so effortlessly. I realize you worked with a principal that had a lot of ideas and only one

speed--FAST! Through curriculum mapping, brain-based research, and technological advances you have taken it all in stride. I'm not naive. I know it's been difficult at times, but I've also seen so many positive advancements in our students, our curriculum, and our student outcomes because of your efforts.

Thank you for reinforcing kindness and respect and teaching personal responsibility.

Thank you for allowing our young men to be unique personalities and not forcing conformity.

Thank you for letting our students know they are good enough and to believe in themselves. Thank you for teaching them that from here ANYTHING is possible if they're willing to work hard, apply all of themselves, and trust in God.

Thank you for being better than you need to be.

But mostly, Thank you for inspiring the hearts, minds, and souls of tomorrow's leaders!

You inspire me! I love you all and I will miss you all!

Please make an effort to be part of my life, because you will always be in my heart and my prayers.

Thank you for making me better than I am or better than I could have been! Thank you for believing in me when others did not! Thank you for showing me what’s possible when a group of people care only about what’s best for students!

You are my family, my friends, and an inseparable part of my heart!

THANK YOU!