Pub. 9 2019-2020 Issue 1

2 WELCOME Message BY ROYCE VAN TASSELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF UAPCS T his morning I read a beautiful Facebook post from a 26-year old living in Florida. Sitting in a coffee shop, she looked around and saw how rich her opportunities are. Instant communication allows her to stay in touch with anyone all the time. Efficient and inexpensive transportation is more available now than at any time in human history. The income that qualifies as poverty in America is 30 times the global average. It is hard to imagine a more blessed time. This plenty offers our students a wider vista, more possibili- ties than any of their predecessors. They have the chance to overcome challenges which have bedeviled us for generations, even centuries. Precisely because they have such a rich set of possibilities, we have an even weightier responsibility. We can and we must inspire their imaginations. We can and we must show them how to use and improve upon the tools our parents gave us. We can and we must help them develop the grit necessary to persevere, especially when they think they’ve exhausted all their energy and possibilities. They can and they must discover the vast troves of opportunity that lie beyond the limits they’ve set for themselves. With these possibilities, with students whose potential is far beyond even our own imagination, it is thrilling to dive into another year in charterland. We have challenges. We get tired. But we have the wonderful opportunity and joy of helping young minds begin to blossom, to discover their love of knowledge, and how that love can bring joy not just to them, but all around them. We are blessed to be in charterland. Let us revel in these opportunities. As we do, our students will mimic that joy, and make their worlds richer, more loving and vast.