Partnership Educators,
Four-year-old Elijah happily identified his letters and numbers while playing with his Mom on the family couch. He put up with this work to get at the real love. His imaginative creative mind longed to use art supplies and tools to design amazing artistic masterpieces. His curious blue eyes saw the world with anticipation.
Eli began to have difficulty with his health and so he had been going to a series of doctors as the family tried to figure out what the issue was. Three weeks before Eli's fifth birthday the family was making their way to one such appointment. They entered the room and sat waiting for the doctor to arrive. This was the day that they will never forget. It was the day that they were told that Eli had a stage four malignant brain tumor and he was given three weeks to live.
Eli's father asked him if he was ready to go to heaven and Eli responded "Only if you can come with me." That is when they decided to fight for Eli's life and asked God's guidance through this journey.
Eli has had seven brain surgeries, six months of maximized radiation chemotherapy, and spent an entire year of his life in the hospital. Due to the treatments, Eli lost all of his peripheral vision, forty percent of his hearing, and continues to struggle with controlling the left side of his body. As difficult as all of this sounds, Eli has remained a smiling gentle soul who inspires all of those around him.
When you first meet Eli, you know right away that this kid has a spirit like no others. He is the type of person who enters the room and sets everyone at ease. His peaceful, quiet nature draws others to him. One of his instructors says, "During our days we approach reading with different outlooks and techniques and one that I've grown fond of is Eli's accents. He seems to read the best as a Russian villain." Many daily tasks can be challenging for him, but Eli never gives up or complains. He has been a source of inspiration for all that meets him. Eli is now in sixth grade and has joined us as a student member of our Juniper family of students.
I had the pleasure to hear the stories of students in our community who have overcome impossible barriers and are still inspirational figures for us all at the Shasta County Office of Educations Every Student Succeeding event this week. Congratulations to Eli Gale, 6th grader at Juniper; Johana Luna-Cuahutenango, 4th grader at Sycamore; Stellar student; Shasta Student for being honored for their perseverance and inspiration to others.
Invictus by William Ernast Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Honor of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
There are going to be people who tell you that you can't. There will be times when you feel like you've gotten run over by a dozer. But it's you who is "the master of my(your) soul". You have a choice about how to behave, what to do, and who to become. No one can take that from you. As the title suggests, we can always choose to be "unconquered". For the recognition of and thankfulness for the warrior spirit in our students who were honored this week, we all can be inspired to be better at who we want to be.
Vaccine Update:
Eligible people include school staff (pre-K through high school), district/county office staff, substitutes, regular volunteers with school programs, and childcare providers. Appointment-based clinics and mass clinics will both be available, and the current plan is for Vibra and Prestige to do vaccinations in Redding, and for Mayers Memorial and Mountain Valleys to vaccinate people in East County. Our sincere thanks to these clinics for dedicating their time and resources to this effort.
To ensure that this process is fair, Shasta County Public Health will be vaccinating high-risk people first, including people 65 and older and people with health conditions, starting on February 13th. If you’d like to be vaccinated, please see the attached flyer and click on the yellow survey link in the middle. It is going to take several weeks to get through our schools, and if you fill out the survey, Shasta County Public Health will reach out to you by email when it is your turn. The supply of vaccines is still very unpredictable, and several thousand of us would like to receive the vaccine, so as we move through this process we ask you to please be patient and flexible – two traits that we have all had to lean upon heavily in the past year.
You can find more details on the attached flyer. Please reach out to your school or district administrator if you have additional questions.
Have a fantastic weekend,
Rob
Vaccines for Education 1.29.21.pdf