MIA English Award 2019 - Morgan Jones (introduction by Michael Butler)

Henry David Thoreau once said, “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” These types of successful people can be described as having grit, gumption, tenacity, perseverance...the list goes on. Then, you have the individuals that have all of the aforementioned attributes, but also something else… something indescribable.

These people just have “it.” But what is “it?” The vagueness of this adjective begs explicit examples. I would describe it as follows…

A student that has “it” does not just memorize facts on Robert Frost to pass a poetry exam. He or she would instead deconstruct the entire life’s work of Robert Frost to figure out why he was so obsessed with trees and axes. The student that has “it” takes on an open mentality to learning; admitting faults when their analysis of a short story is “reaching”, and remaining patient with their teacher’s continuous spelling errors. The student that has “it” does not accept the position of husband and wife on a staircase to be merely physical, but realizes that the deep emotional aspect of the poem was right there in front of them, the whole time! And, hypothetically, a student that has “it” would want to play the part of Princess from Sweet Bird of Youth as many times as possible because...it’s ACTING BABY! This “it” student is both the rind and the fruit: the complete orange.

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IT is an X-factor - a je ne se quois...

People with “IT” have gravitas - exhibiting confidence, competence, poise, effective communication skills and the ability to remain calm not just amid the storm, but before and after the storm as well.

People with “IT” treat everyone with respect and dignity, regardless of their position, their inadequacies, or their beliefs. They demonstrate a genuine interest in and concern for others because as Atticus Finch would say: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

People with “IT” are self-aware, and actively listen allowing themselves to hear what is not being said – and ascertain the question that is not being asked.

People with it succeed in consistently producing works of substance that distinguishes itself in both style and content. They challenge themselves to write more in-depth papers, because people with “IT” know that words have power, and words help find solutions.

People with “IT” have the courage to change the way others read, think, discuss, write, and act. It is their persistence that wins others over, and most importantly, inspires them.

People with “IT” … people with “IT” have “mojo.”

Ladies and gentlemen, the MIA English Department is proud to award MoJo (Morgan Jones) with the 2019 award in English.

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MIA 2018 Literacy Award - PVJ

What is Literacy? In the most simplest of terms, literacy is reading and writing…but those are words with vague definitions and therefore open to many interpretations.

Literacy at MIA is so much more. Literacy is:

Listening, hearing, seeing, empathizing. It’s creating oral, print, visual and digital texts, and using and modifying language for different purposes in a range of contexts.

Open mindedness - where students listen carefully to every viewpoint, evaluating each and every perspective carefully and fairly.

Being knowledgeable - when students offer an opinion, it’s always based on facts and evidence. Moreover, if they lack knowledge on the subject, they acknowledge it.

Activism - where students take initiative and actively use their intelligence to confront problems and meet challenges instead of simply responding passively to events.

Curiosity - where students explore situations with questions that penetrate beneath the surface of issues instead of being satisfied with superficial explanations.

Independent thinking - where students are not afraid to disagree with the group opinion, and instead develop well-supported beliefs through thoughtful analysis instead of uncritically “borrowing” the beliefs of others or simply going along with the crowd.

Discussing - where students are able to discuss ideas in an organized and intelligent way. Even when the issues are controversial, they listen carefully to opposing viewpoints and respond thoughtfully.

Insightfulness - where students are able to get to the heart of the issue or problem - not being distracted by details, they are able to zero in on the essence, seeing the “forest” as well as the “trees.”

Self awareness - where students are aware of their own biases and are quick to point them out and take them into consideration when analyzing a situation.

Creativity - where students can break out of established patterns of thinking and approach situations from innovative directions.

Passion - have a passion for understanding, and are always striving to see issues and problems with more clarity.

Literacy encompasses the knowledge and skills students need to access, understand, analyse and evaluate information, make meaning, express thoughts and emotions, present ideas and opinions, interact with others and participate in activities at school and in their lives beyond school….

Here are some true stories about tonight’s winner.

• Last year this student spent hour upon hour helping students (many of them sitting in the room tonight) write their college essays that distinguished themselves in both style and content. 
• She was one of MIA’s submissions to the Collier County “Laws of Life” contest. This paper was so sophisticated and complex in style that I doubt the graders could comprehend its underlying meaning.
• During his Town Hall meeting on Marco Island, Congressman Francis Rooney avoided her no-holds-barred questions, and instead fielded questions from his shills rather than answering to a hard-hitting high school senior.
• Senior Vincent Piranio has noted that she is the only person that can “turn in blogs two weeks late but still end up with extra credit anyway.”
• As Editor in Chief, she spearheaded the re-launch of The MIA Wave, and sat every day with struggling freshmen and sophomores in the hopes of their articles getting published. Moreover, she laid out the entire paper, and edited every article that appeared both in print and digitally. Literally, 100’s of hours were spent with no complaints and no reward.
• And finally, through her reading and writing, she taught this English teacher things about English that he had never dreamed of thinking of. 

Ladies and gentlemen, there is no better person to receive this award, I introduce to you, Miss Patricia Virginia “Jenna” McKee.

MIA 2018 English Award Speech (with an introduction from Mr. Logan Bruce)

When Keith Scalia first asked me to give my opinion on what the criteria should be for this award, I immediately started thinking in terms of character rather than subject matter. “What is an extraordinary student?” I thought. Ideas of humility, kindness, patience, diligence, and perseverance came to mind, and that’s how I started forming my criteria.

The first thing I told Scalia was that the candidate should be someone who didn’t just have a great highlight reel, but someone who showed up every day. High school is a marathon and an exemplary student doesn’t quit before the finish line. I would say it’s someone who doesn’t get senioritis, but all seniors get senioritis. It’s the seniors who powered through their final year, their final semester, and their final weeks and days of class trying to suck up as much knowledge as possible before they graduate.

And this brings me to my next criteria of an extraordinary student: A student who puts effort into their work not because it will help decorate a piece of paper with the letter A, but because they want to learn. I tell students all the time that any class you take, and anything you do in life all works the same way: You will get out of it what you put into it. When presented with advanced or obscure assignments, students often ask, “Will I even use this in my future?” “I don’t know,” I reply. “But you are here now, so you can either put effort into this and grow from the experience, or mope about it, waste your time, and accomplish nothing. The choice is yours.” And it is a student who makes the best of these situations and cultivates everything they can that exemplifies a star student.

My final major piece of criteria is the student must have a willingness to go above and beyond especially in terms of helping others. But it’s actually more than that because having a willingness to help others means someone will help when they are asked. An exemplary student helps others by instinct without ever having to be asked. They not only push themselves through the end, but they don’t consider the race over until everyone has crossed the finish line. Students don’t just learn from teachers, parents, and other adult figures- they learn from their peers as well, for one day those who are pupils today may be teachers tomorrow. And a student who recognizes this and displays the kindness and patience required to work with others until they succeed is truly a model student deserving of this award.
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So I was like “OK Mr. Bruce. But what you’re asking for is a tall-order. Almost all of our students meet most of your criteria. But I mean come on...a senior without senioritis?”

My grandfather happened to have been a teacher and a track coach. A major influence in my life, he taught me some things about running. Distance running is about conquering the distance not beating the clock. It’s also about resilience, and having the ability to bounce back from adversity, pain or a disappointing performance. It’s about having the ability to focus in the face of distractions or unexpected circumstances. It’s about remaining strong and flexible, able to respond to any situation that arises. It’s about preparation, and having the ability to anticipate situations ahead of time and feel prepared so there is a plan of action for anything that might happen. It’s about openness, willing to listen and take feedback, knowing that’s where real changes take place. It’s about vision, and having the ability to keep moving forward with your objective, even when there are no immediate signs of getting closer to the finish line.

Well I can tell you this, tonight’s winner kept the pace in all of the criteria. Last year she wrote that she feared “never learning that balance or never changing my life to create balance. Never being able to truly display ability because I’m spread so thin.” However, in the two years that I have known her, she has shown incredible poise and grace under pressure, despite the countless hours she has spent in service to the greater Marco Island Academy community and as a student athlete.

She grew into a person that is not afraid of taking risks with her reading or writing. She has peer-reviewed research papers which gave feedback to students that wasn’t necessarily what they wanted to hear, but rather what they needed to hear. She has had straight A’s in every English class she has taken at MIA, including perfect scores in AICE English Language, AICE English Literature, and English 4 Honors. She was one of the semi-finalists in Collier County Public Schools “Laws of Life” essay contest.

Last year’s winner of this prestigious award, Andrah Stansbury, said this of her writing: “your use of pathos in this hit me hard. And when I say hard, I mean like a plane flying into my heart at top speed and trying to fly out all while pulling at my heartstrings.”

This year, a student in her AICE English Literature class said her blog “was as always one of my favorites to read! It's just so dang thorough, honestly! You always portray in such a clean and coherent way exactly what's going on in the book but don't make it into a summary as you weave in your own analysis and strongly support your own opinions. As always, you seriously helped me understand the book and relationships of the characters better.”

On behalf of Mr. Bruce and myself, I apologize for the thoroughness of this speech. However, not to do so, would be a disservice to the effort she put into every assignment.

Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we are honored to present Miss Olivia Watt with the Award for English.

And the award goes to...

True story - this morning I received an email that stated that I “need to have something written/prepared for the award presentation” this evening. Those of you that have been in my class know that I am my own worst critic when it comes to writing, so after twenty aborted attempts to compose a proper presentation for tonight, I finally gave it up, and decided to spend my short time with you doing what I do better, which is to tell stories.

Before I get to the story I was tasked with writing, I want to tell a story that I have told many times in many versions, but this time it is all the truth. You can tell a true story if it embarrasses you. I’m 45 years old and a teacher now, and I have a confession to make - I don’t clean the mug I keep at school. By January the inside of the eggshell white mug transforms into a multitude of browns, and chestnuts, and burnt umbers. Some may call it laziness, but I call it "seasoned."  I look into that mug, and think about prior stories and lessons, as the remnants of hot beverages past skim across the surface of the current one doing loops and spins. It’s about where we have been.  But I digress. 

Choosing the ideal person to win the award from the English Department was a difficult one - Mr. Glamuzina and I have only been here this year and Mrs. Castillo currently has the most seniority in our department with two years. This forced us to focus on the year as a whole. Tim O’Brien stated that “what sticks to memory, often, are those odd little fragments that have no beginning and no end…” like that time that Joey wrote that eight page blog post in seven point font (which was every time), or the time that Dan had the class hanging on his every word with a rebuttal loaded with pathos, or the time that Kyle made us look at Holden in a whole new light, or when everybody was waiting on Kalli to publish her blog to see what animated GIF she would include and what sort of brilliance she was going to blow our minds with, or when Keaton or Caitlyn would change the way students thought, or when Tyler Gresham almost swayed an entire jury with days of impassioned pleas, or that time when 40% of the Collier County Schools “Laws of Life” semifinalists came from Marco Island Academy led by Alaina. Dustin, and Andrah.

I could go on all night as there have been so many shining moments, so many examples to choose from, so many stories. Yet there is one ring to rule them all. The winner of tonight’s English Award has written many true stories - true in that they make the stomach believe. During the first week of school, she was the only person that refused to take part in the BYOL Manifesto as she stated she was "allergic to confrontation."  In her first piece of writing for me she stated that “I'm the type of person who cries at the movies no matter what movie is playing. I’m the type of person who will see beautiful packaging on a candle and cry.” About a week later, she published her first blog where she expressed her distaste for Holden Caulfield due to the fact that he is "able to be brave and establish his anger and express it, even if it is a violent way, mentally or physically, I'm jealous of it. I'm passive about nearly everything, and tend to shy away from speaking my mind from fear of hurting someone else's feelings, but Holden speaks his mind.” 

The tears flowed a lot in the first few weeks. But I don’t view those tears as those of fear or self-doubt...they were indeed a baptism.

As the weeks turned into months, the writing developed a new voice, one that was empowered, one that took risks, one that was compassionate, and caring, and independent, knowledgeable, self-aware, and creative. Rather than take the path of less resistance with a less rigorous elective, she changed her schedule and enrolled in AICE Language, wanting to challenge herself. And in that class, she became a leader - the writer most students wanted to read, the voice that most students wanted to hear, and the critic that most students wanted to review their papers. A week and a half has passed since her last class, and our juniors are still sending her their essays for her quality feedback. As a matter of fact, I normally left her papers last to grade because I always had something to look forward to. 

As commencement approaches, I can say without a doubt that she and everyone else here tonight is ready to move on. Hold on to the lessons you’ve learned in all of your English classes, but let Andrah Stansbury-Mendoza be an inspiration to you - jump on that horse, don’t be afraid to reach for the gold ring - if you fall of you fall off - you’ll get up and you’ll be fine. Just keep writing - I will just be on that bench right over there waiting for it…

I Want a Husband (or A Cursory Exercise in Satire and Hyperbole for the Benefit of my Students)

My wife and I have been together for twenty years - all of them good and just getting better.

For my wife, it surely has been easy to stay married to me, as what woman in their right mind would not want to be married to a super-intelligent and witty international male model/teacher/fireman/humble public servant? While I love her and all the things that she does for me and the kids, there are just some things she does and/or expects that as Peter Griffin would say "really grinds my gears."  To ease these duties and frustrations, maybe I should find myself my own husband.

I want a husband who will be the primary bread-winner for the family.  My kids have a different relationship with their mother (my wife) than they do with me.  This is probably because while she was home witnessing all those "firsts," bonding with the children, taking naps, and watching Rachael Ray, I was working three jobs.  Could my wife had made more money in her one job than me, the teacher working three? The answer a resounding "yes!"  But we all know it is the father that needs to bring home the bacon as the majority of Americans reject the idea of the mother going to work more than an infant would reject my nipple for breast feeding.

I want a husband that will toil and do all the physical labor around the house. I would be happy to give my husband the "Puss in Boots eyes" that my wife used to give me when we lived in New York and there was snow on the ground.

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There she would be, watching out the window, giving me a thumbs up or I 💘  you hand signals while I was out moving literal tons of snow for hours.  My reward for doing this was a cup of hot chocolate, a "thanks," and a back that ached for days.  If my husband were to do this for me, I would make sure I got off the couch and helped a little bit by at least applying salt to the walk and driveway (but he could still scrape the inches of ice from the car windows).

I want a husband that will fix things when they are broken.  One time, I had just gotten done working my typical 80 hour week while also answering fire calls during the wee hours of the morning, and my wife informed me that our new dryer was no longer working.  While it was still under warranty, it became my job to fix because my wife didn't feel like waiting around all day for the repairman to come.  

My nice quiet Saturday night turned into a miserable evening of removing screws, and clamps, and belts, just to diagnose the problem.  What made matters worse was that once I did figure out what might be wrong with the dryer, I had to find the part.  If I had a husband, he could have done all of this for me, and then put Humpty-Dumpty back together again while I watched football and read the paper.  Seriously - what do I look like? The Maytag repairman?

I want a husband that will deal with my wife when she acts like this if she sees an insect in the house:

 

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Considering the both of us grew up in New York, and have traversed some of the toughest neighborhoods that New York City has to offer, one would figure that 6mm domestic house spider wouldn't stand a chance - yet this is never the case.  My husband could dispose of it by putting it outside or simply just kill it, while I attend to more important things like reading while reclined on the couch.

I want a husband who will take care of this nonsense while I am trying to sleep:

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Seriously - there is never anything there that is worth getting out of bed.  Furthermore, getting back to sleep just never seems to happen afterwards, while my wife snores in peace knowing that everything is safe.  While I am on the subject, why is it that I have to put my life in jeopardy if there really is something dangerous making that noise?  Moreover, what am I supposed to do about it anyway?

I want a husband that will be the responsible one and do all the driving.  If we are going to the store, I do the driving.  If we are going out to see a concert, I do the driving.  Going out for dinner and a couple of cocktails with friends - guess who? Or how about all those 1,300 mile trips to and from New York.  How many miles do you think my wife drove? If you answered "0" you would be correct.

I will allow my husband to be my personal chauffeur so I can have sleep on those long trips over-the-road, or play games and text on my cell phone, or have that glass of wine with dinner at a family get together.  My husband will also let me listen to what I want on the car stereo without complaint, and drive as fast or slow as I deem necessary to get me to my destination when I want to get there.

Since polygamy is frowned upon here in Florida, and I don't want to leave my wife, I guess I am stuck with the life I have.  I could go on and on, but unlike my wife I don't have the luxury of leaving my work at work.  Hence, I don't have the time because I need to grade more blogs. Oh the joys of being a man!

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