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From the Seat Where I Sit... August 2015

By Janice Crampton posted 09-02-2015 04:29 PM

  
What did I do this summer? I got ready for you!

The seat that I am sitting in is the passenger seat of our car, headed back from Ohio to Connecticut after dropping our youngest at college for his sophomore year.

I’ve said this before and I will say it again: for thirty-five years I have been working with and for schools, and it is because of this that my new year celebration is not January 1 but these weeks just before and after Labor Day. The beginning of a new school year is my new beginning, too.
 
The routine of beginning again gives me comfort. The routine helps to get me back into some balance after a summer season of “out of office” replies on email and voicemail. The funny thing is that there is this perception that the summer months have us all slowing down or even stopping, as if once school is dismissed we all escaped to (insert location, place) when in fact the calls, emails, and conversations I am having with many of you are ample evidence that we are all still “in.” We never stopped, while others are all coming back asking us how our summer vacation was? You mean the week I squeezed in?
 
This is not a a rant about not getting vacation. I love vacation, and I took a great one this year. I love time away from the day-to-day, and I had it.
 
But I also love the energy around those first few days of the new school year, when the fruit of our enrollment labor arrives, wrapped in smiles. Students and families arriving on campus, psyched to see us and to contribute to our mission, bring a school back to life.
 
So maybe we need to better articulate and explain to others that the summer is not “down time” but a time that includes the famous “July melt” and “August anxiety”. An admission and enrollment management professional never hangs up a sign that says “Gone fishing” or “See you in September;” instead, our message is that “Your call is important to me, and I will be back on _____.”
 
So how will you answer the question, How was your summer vacation?
 
I think we might all be able to say: I was getting ready for you!
 
Want further inspiration? Watch this youtube video from West Des Moines School - ONE MORE DAY:  https://myoutube.com/watch?v=cGMIPDIY094&feature=player_embedded 

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