Director's Wave | Volume 6 Edition 20

Vol 6 Ed 20 2025-2026 SY 27 February 2026 JU

27 February 2026

Dear CIS Community,

Something to Ponder

“My mother wanted me to be a lawyer and I wanted to be an actor. So I went to school, majored in theatre, and said ‘Mom, I have to choose my own destiny. I want to be an actor.’ A couple of weeks after I graduated college I called my mother and said, ‘Can I borrow $200?’ and she said ‘Why don't you act like you’ve got $200.’” - Arsenio Hall

In February, our grade nine and ten students participated in Week Without Walls. Grade nine and ten students who did not travel off island engaged in on island opportunities, including 74 students participating in work experiences, mini-internships if you will. This allows young people to see what they like, follow interests and sometimes find out what they thought they would like - really is not for them.

Certainly the notions of careers, callings and jobs change over time. In this day and age people tend to have multiple jobs and careers over the course of time (current estimates indicate that a person will change jobs / careers / callings an average of just over 15 times between the ages of 18 and 52). This rate of change, should in theory allow for a variety of life lessons. According to Gregory J. Kelly, a former editor and contributor for Physician’s Money Digest, five of these life lessons are found below.

Lesson #1

Life is not fair - get used to it. What is "fair" is usually in the eye of the beholder. Someone will always make more money than you, get ahead faster than you and get more lucky breaks than you. *Success comes to people who worry more about what they have to do to get ahead than what is happening to other people. Luck is preparation meeting opportunity. How prepared will you be when the next opportunity comes around?

Lesson #2

The world won't care about your self-esteem. It will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. *Confident people get that way because they accomplished hundreds of little things. They built their self-esteem task by task, project by project. Most people start off with no confidence. It grows slowly through experience.

Lesson #3

If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. *Your performance won't be measured by a test or a term paper. It will be scrutinized every day. And you don't get a new boss every semester; you're stuck with the one you have and you'd better find a way to get along. Also, you do not meet with counselors if you have poor attendance or frequently tardy - you get fired.

Lesson #4

Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity. *Ask a successful person about some of their first jobs and he or she will probably have some stories to tell. They waited tables, punched movie tickets and stocked shelves. Far from being demeaning, these jobs teach lessons about work that are the building blocks of success.

Lesson #5

If you mess up, it's not your parent's or teacher’s fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. *The first place to look is in the mirror; it isn't on the internet for the number of an attorney.

Wishing you a smooth close to February and a pleasant weekend.

Sincerely,

Jim