Distance Learning

I’d been coaching cross country at a small, private military boarding school for a few years and had developed a fairly good team. One day, I came up with an idea that would challenge all of us to move beyond the familiar. My team had been competing well against conference teams in the area, but I wanted to push us beyond and test our abilities against a larger school. My idea was to see if I could match my team up against Culver Academies, one of the premier military school experiences in the nation.

The military school where I coached attempted, on a regular basis, to emulate the programming and strategies at Culver.  If I really wanted to see what my team was made of, a match up against this larger, premier program would be a good test.  Or at least I thought.

The other coach was amenable and invited us to one of their home meets.  We made the drive from Wisconsin to Indiana and were immediately impressed, and somewhat overwhelmed, by the Culver campus.  We did our warm ups, I gave my pep talk and we went to the starting line.  The gun went off and within a mile (of the 3.1 mile race) my entire team trailed the Culver team.  Even my best runner couldn’t keep pace with their last runner. 

This wasn’t good and I wasn’t looking forward to my report when I returned to the president at my school.  I hadn’t really done my homework and prepared myself and my team for this event.  Running at Culver was much harder than I thought it was going to be.  I began to regret this new endeavor.

We have moved to our first week of distance learning.  This is a big change from how we usually deliver our educational programs.  Though distance learning does provide a valuable opportunity for learning, the transition to it can be daunting.  A concerned parent emailed last Friday sharing their student was instantly overwhelmed when they checked LancerLink and realized the amount of work they would need to do from home.  I am sure this is going to be the reaction for many of our students.  Distance learning places new and different responsibilities when it comes to learning.

The most important thing is that each student gives their best effort.  Things are not going to be perfect, easy or the same.  Distance learning requires a new set of skills that take time to develop.  The first few days are going to be the most difficult.  Just like the race at Culver, the new normal can seem to be too much and we may be tempted to not do our best.  We may begin to feel that we can quit or not put forth much effort.  I was glad that my cross-country team kept running that day.

During the second mile of the race at Culver, a severe thunderstorm rolled across Lake Maxinkuckee onto the race course.  The officials stopped the race as the runners entered the third mile and they had us take cover in the horse stables.  After the storm passed, they decided to not have any of the runners complete the race.  The Culver coach apologized, after we had made the long drive that we weren’t able to complete the race.  As a token of appreciation, he handed me the top five medals that were to be given at the end of the race.  I returned back to my school with those medals in hand.

Receiving those medals, in a situation I wasn’t prepared for, was fortunate and unexpected.  Some would even say it was lucky.  Yet, when we put forth our best effort, we don’t always know what the result will be.  We all need to reinforce to our students the importance of doing their best and encourage them during this time. 

Thank you for your support,

John K. Thornburg
Headmaster