Each school year I choose a single word to guide my focus and intention. This year, that word is Water. Universal, life-giving, and endlessly adaptable, water reminds me that neither life nor leadership is rigid. Both are dynamic, fluid, and transformative journeys. Water is not just a metaphor but a way of being that shapes how I think, how I lead, and how I live.
Rivers have always captured my attention. They move with purpose, twisting and meandering, yet always flowing forward. Over time, rivers transform the landscapes around them, carving valleys and shaping new paths. My own journey has rarely been straight, but like a river, I have learned to keep moving. Personally, that means trusting detours; professionally, it means guiding a community with direction while embracing the turns and the transformation they bring.
Streams carry the excitement of beginnings. They often start as trickles, bubbling with possibility, and gather strength as they flow. Many opportunities in my life began this way, small and uncertain at first, then growing far larger than I could have imagined. In schools, streams appear in a student’s wonder or a teacher’s idea, maybe modest at first but capable of carrying new energy that reshapes an entire community.
Lakes remind me to pause. Their stillness holds a different kind of power, not from movement but from depth and clarity. Personally, these quiet moments give me perspective, helping me reflect, ideate and think deeply. In leadership, I have come to understand that pausing is not a weakness, but a strength. Like a lake reflecting the world around it, embracing stillness allows the clarity and meaning of ideas to emerge.
The ocean has always moved me. Standing at its edge, I’m struck by its vastness and reminded of the immense world that stretches far beyond the horizon. The tides are never still; they transform coastlines, sustain ecosystems, and connect distant shores. Personally, the ocean gives me perspective and a reminder that my own life is part of a much larger story. Professionally, it represents the responsibility of leadership: what we do matters, but it is always part of something greater. Education, like the ocean, is vast and interconnected and prepares students not only for their own journeys, but for the larger world they are bound to shape and navigate.
And then there are waves. I have surfed waves that carried me smoothly to shore and others that tumbled me under. Their power is undeniable: waves reshape beaches and redefine coastlines. In life waves of change have been the same, exhilarating at times and overwhelming at others, but each builds resilience and experience. In schools, waves of innovation and renewal bring energy and life to our communities. Ultimately, waves transform us, reminding us that true progress is not a straight line but the ongoing rhythm of energy, resilience, renewal, and change.
Choosing Water as a word for the year is both a guide and a challenge. It asks us to flow with purpose, to nourish those around us, and to remember that leadership, like water, shapes the world quietly but profoundly. For me, being like water means staying adaptable and flowing with life’s current, while guiding my own direction within that flow. Ultimately, water is more than a metaphor; it is a way of being and one that calls us to live with vitality, to create with tenacity, to connect with depth and to embrace the importance of flow. It reminds us that our influence reaches further than we often realize, connecting lives and shaping futures in ways both subtle and vast.
Do you have a word that will guide your year?
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