An email sent to my biology students this morning:
Hey Team,
I hope you enjoyed your break, got some rest, and spent some time with loved ones. I’m touching base to share a brief thought on projects.
Look. You’re probably not going to feel inspired to create projects in December. I get it. There’s holiday festivities, Hallmark movies to be watched, and, of course, covid.
At the same time, this class is an opportunity. Projects aren’t just for creating something–they’re for shaping you into who you could be. I wish I had the chance to create projects in high school. Looking back, it would have made a big difference in how I approached the rest of my high school and college education.
Projects help you bring something into the world that didn’t exist before. But projects have deadlines. 8 of you didn’t submit #lightning-project-5 on time. 7 of you have yet to submit it, now almost 1 week late.
As a young professional, I’m still making projects every week. I have a personal commitment that goes like this: “I don’t miss deadlines.”
If you tuned into the Prayer Service this morning, you saw a project I created. That’s right, good ole Mr. Lemma made a project. This was shared with the whole school, on a Zoom webinar. In real time. The deadline was 7:50am. I didn’t miss it, because professionals don’t miss deadlines. Here’s the link in case you didn’t catch it: https://youtu.be/9xp5sMfEgx0
Professionals do the hard work whether they feel inspired or not, whether there’s cookies to be baked or not. Don’t let this class go to waste. Doing these projects is more important than you think.
For real though, I’m excited to see you all tomorrow. Enjoy your final day of rest!
Cheers,
Mr. L