Good morning William Blount families,
First of all, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Patrick Bethel, and I have been in education for a little over 17 years. This will be my 13th year in an administrative position, having served as both a head principal and an assistant principal.
I am incredibly excited to begin this journey with each of you at William Blount High School. More importantly, I am most excited to have the opportunity to meet and grow with each of your students as they embark on their futures and career choices.
At William Blount High School, we have a strong staff that is all deeply rooted in the culture of community. While our students come from a vast area all over Blount County, we all walk through the same doors as Governors.
Before our staff left for the summer, they worked hard to prepare for this upcoming school year. One of the initiatives we focused on is "The Governor Way." You will hear a lot about "The Governor Way" in our classrooms, in our communications, and in our conversations with students.
These four pillars represent our expectations for our students, and it is our hope that this will leave a lifelong impression on them as they transition to adults:
Pursue Knowledge with integrity and purpose.
Be Better today than yesterday.
Respect and Help others.
Give Your Best effort.
While I still accidentally call our students "our kids" or "children" at times, they are no longer in that childhood stage—they are young adults, and we will treat them as such. However, we also understand that it takes a village to raise a young adult, and we cannot do this without your help and support.
Here is what I need from all of our families:
We will be sharing a lot of opportunities and different avenues for parents and guardians to get involved this year. Please do not feel as though your student is a young adult and no longer needs you to be involved the way they did in elementary or middle school. That is absolutely not the case. If anything, you should be more involved in your child's education now than ever before.
The four years of high school go by incredibly fast:
• Some students will be preparing for college or a post-secondary institution that fits their goals.
• Others will be working on industry certifications or preparing to enter the workforce.
What many people do not know is that William Blount High School offers an extensive lineup of opportunities for any student exploring any pathway. Our students can walk out of William Blount High School with college credit, TCAT certifications, or hands-on learning skills that allow them to enter the workforce immediately. We want to make sure we have the foundation for all of our students to choose their next path, even if they want to attend an Ivy League school, should that be their ambition. It is our mission to support all of our students and prepare them for their next steps.
We understand that many of our students will walk through our doors as freshmen, sophomores, or even juniors and still have no idea what they want to do. To be fair, many of us adults still don't know what we want to do! I joke about that a lot, but I cannot tell you how many people I interview for teaching positions who are starting their second, third, or even fourth career change. Embracing our students' shifting ambitions and goals is our greatest priority-and sometimes our greatest challenge.
We are going to do a lot of things to build upon our strong academic foundation. While some students may choose to go straight into the workforce, it is our responsibility to ensure they get the best education possible. If they decide later in life that they want to change course and look at other options, we never want them to feel like their high school education held them back.
I will tell all of our incoming freshmen when we meet: Your job right now is to not close any doors until you are ready to close them. We want our students to have every opportunity to explore all possibilities until they graduate.
I know this communication is long, and I appreciate your patience, but I felt it was vital to share a bit about The Governor Way and my hopes and aspirations for our amazing school and community. I hope you will partner with us when opportunities present themselves. I also want to thank our counseling department; they have put in tons of hours this summer working alongside our administrative team to build robust opportunities for our students. Each year, these opportunities will continue to grow. Students will have options to take AP courses if they choose, or dual-enrollment courses as juniors, and we will continue to expand those offerings over the next several years.
Please continue to be patient with us as we work alongside our counselors, teachers, and Central Office staff to develop an even stronger school for every single student. Your homework right now is to follow our social media accounts and share all the great things we post and share about our school, events, and students.
Thank you for your warm welcome, and let's have a fantastic school year!
Sincerely,
Patrick Bethel