what we do best...
The guy was a prospective Collegiate parent who was moving to town and looking for just the right fit for his family.
A friend introduced us and mentioned that I’d taught here for quite a while.
How long? the visitor inquired.
Only 43 years, I responded, but that’s just full time. Before that, I coached what we now call Cub sports.
Petey Jacobs hired me. Guess he was hard up and looking for somebody who would work cheap and not watch the clock.
Petey Jacobs? he said. Who is he?
The gym’s named in his honor, I answered. You probably saw it on your campus tour.
Coach Jacobs set the bar high. He loved to win and did it quite often, but he also preached that success isn’t about just winning. It’s about teamwork, competing, loyalty, and sportsmanship.
Interesting concept, especially this day and time, he replied.
Yes, I said. Coach Jacobs was something special. We really miss him, but his spirit is evident each time our kids compete with every fiber of their being, regardless of the outcome.
You see, he taught us that athletics isn’t an end in itself and that what we learn from competing prepares us for times when life is more than a game…for times when life gets really tough.
You must have seen a lot of change over the years, he said.
Absolutely. We’re all about change, but it isn’t just facilities and AP scores and international experiences.
We have some tried-and-true traditions. That’s for sure. But we’re not hidebound or afraid to look ahead or venture outside our institutional comfort zone.
We have one foot in the past and the other in the future.
What some might perceive as differences just don’t seem that big a deal here. That’s no small accomplishment, especially when you consider where society is these days.
That enlightenment and understanding didn’t just happen overnight. It was an evolution.
It’s who we are, and that’s good.
Sounds almost too good to be true, he observed.
We’re not perfect by any means. No place is. But we have a lot of very accepting, non-judgmental folks who work together well.
Look at the front page of the newspaper. Check CNN or even ESPN. All you see, it seems, is anger, bitterness, and divisiveness.
It’s crazy out there. That’s the world we’re sending our children into, and we, and their parents, are responsible for preparing them the best we can.
Education, now more than ever, is a shared endeavor. We’re doing our best to provide great opportunities and role models and reinforce the values our kids are hopefully learning at home.
So how do you know if you’re doing your job?
We poll our graduates regularly. Pretty much every time, the result comes back the same.
They feel like they’re prepared when they leave the security of home and North Mooreland Road. They’re focused. They know how to study. They know how to write. They know how to face challenges.
They value their relationships with their teachers and coaches. That means the intangibles, our foundation, are still in place.
That’s especially gratifying, because many of us who play this gig are here because we thought what our teachers and coaches did was cool and we’re just paying it forward.
Wow, that’s a lot to absorb, he said. If you could sum up Collegiate briefly, what would you say?
I’m a writer, I responded. I can’t sum up anything briefly.
I will say this, though. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say again and again.
We do many things really well here at Collegiate.
What we do best is take care of each other.
