Ben's Guest Blog

As we begin the long slog toward the end of “PC Camp Week Three,” I look back on what was: the first awkward exchanges, the flashes of brilliance, and the sheer weight of the expectations that we all felt.  I recall our first visit with superiors – Drs. Mullins, Bartee, McClelland, Davis, and Bunch – and the beautiful room in which we sat.  Surrounded by John J. Audubon prints and overlooking the lovely wooded Circle, I listened intently to our leadership as they shared with us their unique vision of our future: quite literally, to change profoundly the climate of public education in this state.  Looking about the room, I think all of us were in awe of our surroundings, of the pomp and circumstance with which we were ushered into our new lives as PC Cohorts.

As I write tonight, I am reminded of the great task in front of us.  Mississippi is first in all the wrong categories; Mississippi is often the butt of jokes.  However, as I become more deeply vested in the educational future (or plight, depending on your perspective or on the tint of your specs) of my home state, my own vision is forming, and it is a vision of hope, and of courage, and of fearless forays into that which scares so many Mississippians: fundamental change.  Mississippi needs it, our kids crave it, and our long-term viability depends on it.

I find it fitting that this class of leaders, and that the classes of existing PC leaders already installed in districts statewide, should be tasked with such an arduous enterprise.  After all, we have fantastic instructors, gracious financial backing from the Barksdale family, and most of all, we have each other.  We each have such enormous potential to affect change, and we each desire to be the change we desire to create.

In close, I am grateful for this opportunity to learn to lead the PC way.  I am surrounded by the most vibrant people, and I hope to lend my own verse to the poem we create together.

* Ben is a former teacher/coach with Rankin County Schools.  In the fall he will welcome his first child into the world.