Pat a teenager on the back

I'll be the first one to tell you, teaching high school in 2007 is by no means paradise. There are hard days, when the kids have bad attitudes, or they're tired, and there are days when I have a bad attitude.

But, on balance, the students I see every day are incredible. Not only are they dealing with seven different teachers who all think their class and their homework is the most important item on students' agendas, they're dealing with helicopter parents, some are dealing with parents who are almost completely oblivious to their children's needs. Some are seeing violence and drugs every day as if it's a part of "normal" life. Some are dealing with abuse, mental illness, a schedule packed more tightly than a can of sardines.

It's only been 10 years since I was in high school. So much has changed. Not once in my time at good ol' Shawnee Mission North, did we have to talk about lockdown drills and school shooters.

We will have a drill this week. School, for some students and teachers, is a battleground.

Even in the midst of all this, my yearbook and newspaper students continue to amaze me. They will go out and do work for no pay (and even less glamour and fame), and they'll stick around at all hours to accomplish it if they have to. While I don't like to be on super-tight deadlines and I wish that they would work a little faster the entire month, I have to say that I am constantly impressed by the teamwork they exhibit when it is crunch time.

Tonight, my yearbook staff was cranking out pages to beat a 176-page deadline that is next Monday. The students who came in to work really knocked one out of the park.

I'm so proud of them, and I can't wait to see their faces when they crack the spines on the books on July 28.

Speaking of another teenager I am immensely proud of - please, send good thoughts to my former student Steven Sewell. He is serving with the Marines in Iraq. He's been there a week, and I received an email tonight from him.