Character is Doing the Right Thing When Nobody is Looking

Some of you will remember when Tom Wilson spoke us to us two years ago in a school assembly. Tom attended Greenwood in Grade 9 and 10 and then left to play Junior A hockey in Plymouth, Michigan. At the time he spoke to us, Tom had been one of the final cuts from Team Canada’s World Junior team. He shared with the audience how difficult it had been in discovering that he did not make the team and reminded students that his experiences as a hockey player had taught him that character is how you act when no one is watching. Tom was drafted by the Washington Capitals in 2013 and is in now entering his second season as an NHL player. He is going to make time to meet with our Grade 11 students when they are in Washington during the upcoming long weekend.

Making good decision away from the puck and off the ice has been an important part of Tom’s success. There are some obvious lessons students can take away from his experience. As I have reminded students over the year, people form their impression of our school based on the way students act outside of school. From time to time, people send me e-mails or call me to share these impressions, which for the most part, are extremely positive. One such example occurred last week when a prospective parent who was here for our Open House encountered some of our students in one of the local restaurants on Mount Pleasant. The parent commented favorably on the friendly manner in which students engaged with one another and the restaurant staff.

Hopefully, this type of behavior is evident on buses, at subway stations and any other places where Greenwood students encounter members of the public. It is my hope that you learn to make good choices not because you are told to do so, but because it is the right thing to do.