Last year I was just a little freshman still learning about Thomas Nelson and how it functioned. By joining SOC I have learned how we are connected to the community so well and how we celebrate each other and connect with students during RUSH. I have also learned how much I can connect with others and be involved in different ignites. This year I helped plan and set up our first ever Yellow Out ignite, which was put together by all first year SOC members. The Yellow Out ignite was a igbite that lasted all week long and involved our organizations with childhood cancer awareness month. During Yellow Out I worked the donation tabel at the football game along with the following tuesday at the soccer game, overall we raised $500.96 which was a outstanding ammount of money being donated to find a cure for childhood cancer. Some things that I have accomplished for our organization is the escape room that we all do that will help us connect and bring our team closer together like a family.
Some goals I have for the 2nd quarter would be how can we keep our team connection together even after the season. Also in the 2nd quarter I need to prepare myself for the Track season and how we can connect our team together so we can have a family like connection with our track members aswell. Some ideas that I have to help get our students involved in our school would possibly be to have a month to have each club have their own morning ignite to share witht he school and allow them to share more about their club for those who may not have learned much during RUSH week. So far SOC has been a favorite class for me becasue each and every person always bring positive energy into the room and we all work together in order to complete task. SOC is place that gives me time to connect with our coach and time to think of ways to build SOC and continue our connection with the comunity.
Friday, October 12, 2018
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Iron Horse 5k
The 15th Annual Iron Horse Festival 5k is coming up September 8th. This year's edition will be chip timed and we have online registration! https://runsignup.com/ironhorse5k
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Friday, May 18, 2018
Quarter 4 SOC Reflection
CARE
As a new XCTF SOC Representative comes in next year to lead, I want him to remember that it is his leadership and courage that will connect our team to the school and community around us. In order for him to help others be their best selves, he has to be present and be involved. I hope that he recognizes unique ways to celebrate and works to create meaningful ways to connect with each other and the community. There are many things I have built this year that he will be able to continue with next year. For example, this year I was able to establish many relationships with community partners and provide service to them. Occasionally, I had team members come out and help with the service projects, but there needs to be more involvement and outreach. We did have several team members contribute to donating items anytime we were providing service through donations but it is more important to serve by giving your time and assistance to others, rather than providing items. From my experiences with community service this year, I have learned that you cannot force people to come and help out but you can make them realize that it is essential to building a community. Several times, when we provided our service and care to others, they gave us praise and even once a donation. That is a true testament to the never ending cycle of giving back to your community. I hope that the next representative continues to push for community service and strongly encourages our team members to reach out. Next year, I hope to see continued growth and involvement and I truly believe that our next representative, Ethan Vance, will be able to create something special through SOC and for our organization.
CONNECT
This year we have had a large growth area through our communication skills. We have always used email as a way for Coach Hoyes to communicate dates, times, lineups, directions, and so much more. However, we were seeing some conflict with solely using that as a means of communication. Sometimes, people would check their emails too late or not all and then they would miss something important. That being said, we decided this year that we would implement a text message system for all team members and parents or family members. This proved to be a huge success as we were able to provide more clarity and direct communication to all members. Anytime I needed something sent out to the team as a whole, I would send Hoyes my message and he would send it out through the text system. I hope they continue this system to provide a stronger and more effective way to communicate and connect. Another way we communicated was through our blog. I was able to take over the blog this year and anytime Coach Hoyes would send out a large and informative email to the team, I would transfer that on the blog for our community to view. I would also include pictures to create a way to directly show the things we were doing. I hope that the presence on the blog continues to next year and is a way for the community to connect with our organization and see our work. One question I should be asking our new representative is, "What are your goals." I know I have stated a lot about what I want Ethan to continue on for next year but it is also important for him to individually create something special and build his own legacy.
CREATE
Throughout my time in SOC, I have created several initiatives to help connect the school and get students involved. One thing I am most proud of would have to be the projects, events, and traditions that I created or helped to create over the course of the school year. There many new ideas that we were able to bring to life all because we said, "Yes" and worked hard to create something special together. With creating new rituals and traditions comes branding. This year we had a lot of creative, new branding that really helped to establish who we are as a SOC and a school. Things like Ignites, The Angel Tree Project, and Battle of the Generations are all established and known because of the SOC. I am proud of the work and dedication that went into planning, creating, and conducting these events that will hopefully continue on for many years to come.
One thing I would have done differently would be the way in which we do community service. In some way, there needs to be a more concrete system to provide equal service among the SOC and your individual SO. By creating a system of consistency, we would be able to hold people accountable for their service and be able to establish who still needs to step up and who has done a majority of the projects. Overall, service is one of the most important components to an organization and everyone should be contributing to that.
As a new XCTF SOC Representative comes in next year to lead, I want him to remember that it is his leadership and courage that will connect our team to the school and community around us. In order for him to help others be their best selves, he has to be present and be involved. I hope that he recognizes unique ways to celebrate and works to create meaningful ways to connect with each other and the community. There are many things I have built this year that he will be able to continue with next year. For example, this year I was able to establish many relationships with community partners and provide service to them. Occasionally, I had team members come out and help with the service projects, but there needs to be more involvement and outreach. We did have several team members contribute to donating items anytime we were providing service through donations but it is more important to serve by giving your time and assistance to others, rather than providing items. From my experiences with community service this year, I have learned that you cannot force people to come and help out but you can make them realize that it is essential to building a community. Several times, when we provided our service and care to others, they gave us praise and even once a donation. That is a true testament to the never ending cycle of giving back to your community. I hope that the next representative continues to push for community service and strongly encourages our team members to reach out. Next year, I hope to see continued growth and involvement and I truly believe that our next representative, Ethan Vance, will be able to create something special through SOC and for our organization.
CONNECT
This year we have had a large growth area through our communication skills. We have always used email as a way for Coach Hoyes to communicate dates, times, lineups, directions, and so much more. However, we were seeing some conflict with solely using that as a means of communication. Sometimes, people would check their emails too late or not all and then they would miss something important. That being said, we decided this year that we would implement a text message system for all team members and parents or family members. This proved to be a huge success as we were able to provide more clarity and direct communication to all members. Anytime I needed something sent out to the team as a whole, I would send Hoyes my message and he would send it out through the text system. I hope they continue this system to provide a stronger and more effective way to communicate and connect. Another way we communicated was through our blog. I was able to take over the blog this year and anytime Coach Hoyes would send out a large and informative email to the team, I would transfer that on the blog for our community to view. I would also include pictures to create a way to directly show the things we were doing. I hope that the presence on the blog continues to next year and is a way for the community to connect with our organization and see our work. One question I should be asking our new representative is, "What are your goals." I know I have stated a lot about what I want Ethan to continue on for next year but it is also important for him to individually create something special and build his own legacy.
CREATE
Throughout my time in SOC, I have created several initiatives to help connect the school and get students involved. One thing I am most proud of would have to be the projects, events, and traditions that I created or helped to create over the course of the school year. There many new ideas that we were able to bring to life all because we said, "Yes" and worked hard to create something special together. With creating new rituals and traditions comes branding. This year we had a lot of creative, new branding that really helped to establish who we are as a SOC and a school. Things like Ignites, The Angel Tree Project, and Battle of the Generations are all established and known because of the SOC. I am proud of the work and dedication that went into planning, creating, and conducting these events that will hopefully continue on for many years to come.
One thing I would have done differently would be the way in which we do community service. In some way, there needs to be a more concrete system to provide equal service among the SOC and your individual SO. By creating a system of consistency, we would be able to hold people accountable for their service and be able to establish who still needs to step up and who has done a majority of the projects. Overall, service is one of the most important components to an organization and everyone should be contributing to that.
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Monday, April 9, 2018
Good afternoon TNHS Track family. Hope everyone has had a restorative spring break. We had an awesome showing at the GRC Heavy Metal Throwdown, saw great practices the first half of the week, then enjoyed a much needed break from the track.But, we're back at it tomorrow. Please, please, please come out and help us again. Our first meet here was a tremendous success and it's all because of the contributions from our track family. We will have every single athlete competing and expecting almost exactly the same teams as last time.Please respond only if you cannot commit to the same position as last time. Otherwise, I'm counting on the same folks for the same jobs. Thank you!Athletes need to be on site by 4:45. Coaches meeting 5:15, 5:30 field, 5:45 running events.Gate and early concession workers please be here by 4:45Field event help - 5:00Timers - 5:15Saturday 4/14 - Bardstown Clash of the Classes Invitational9:30 coaches meeting, 10:00 events start - athletes should be on site 9:15This will be a varsity only meet that allows two individuals and one relay per event. Those lineup sheets will go out later in the week, but it will look similar to those from the meet at Transy.Next Wednesday 4/18 - Bullitt East All-comers (all TNHS athletes competing)5:30-5:45 Start - athletes should be on site by 5:00Thank you all for your continued support. See you all tomorrow.Matt
Monday, April 9, 2018
Quarter 3 Flycloser Reflection
CARE
All around me, I see people working together for the better of themselves, each other, and our community. I continue to strive to apart of that and contribute what I can to the improvement of my student organization, SOC, Thomas Nelson as a whole, and my community. There are many things that play a role in caring for each other and, thankfully, I have been able to be apart of most of those initiatives. Like I said in my last blog post, I started the semester off with continuing my planning for 8th grade RUSH. This was a huge initiative and started my semester off on the right foot. This was also very helpful to my S.O. because we had 17 eighth graders sign up to join the Track and Field team. I was able to give their contact information to Coach Hoyes and we have seen several of those faces come out and practice with us in the past few weeks. As the season is just getting started and we are having everyone come together from their winter sports, I am excited to see the new athletes who will join and how they can contribute to our team. I am also excited to be able to come together as a team and serve our community partner. We have one event that is in the works and we will hopefully be able to plan the rest of it out with our partner to be able to better connect with them. There is a lot of growth going on for our team and it will only continue from here.
As far as SOC, there have been a lot of initiatives going on that I have been able to be apart of and help lead. One of the most recent projects we have started is our collaboration with Nelson County's Student Advisory Council. This collaboration is something that I am really looking forward to in our future work together because it is so important to build a relationship with our sister school. We already have an initiative planned and the more it comes together, the better it has become. There is still a lot to do but we have been working hard to get it all together and I am excited to see the result. From this collaboration, they have started to invite us to be apart of other initiatives. For example, this past week, they invited the SOC officers to join them at their First Responders Breakfast and we were able help serve breakfast and connect with our First Responders of Nelson County.
CONNECT
Throughout the second semester, I have tried to focus on effectively communicating and connecting with SOC members, my SO and sponsors. The first opportunity I had to connect was with the community through the 8th grade RUSH. I had a lot of interested 8th graders and now that track has started, I have seen several of those same 8th graders come out to practice, consistently. This feels like a huge accomplishment, even if there are only about 5 or 6 eighth graders coming because I worked hard to encourage them and connect with them so they would feel comfortable enough to take a healthy risk and try something new. This has set the foundation for them and will hopefully help them to continue being involved and taking healthy risks. Aside from the eighth grade RUSH, our own RUSH that we hosted at the beginning of the year has also brought out a lot of new faces. With a large graduating class last year, I was very worried that track and field would not have a lot of athletes to compete. However, this years turn out far exceeded my expectations and I could not be happier. We have a ton of true talent coming out and I have seen many who came during RUSH and asked good questions about being apart of track and field. Had we not connected with them, they may not have come out and been apart of a team like track and field.
There has also been several opportunities to connect within SOC. Earlier in the year, Caroline Boone, Grace Thurman, and I had the opportunity to go to OKH Middle School and teach them how to Make Art within their google slides and presentations in their Leadership Dynamics class. This was an awesome opportunity to connect with potential SOC members but also with Future Generals and show them skills that we have learned so they can put them into their work. Another way I have connected in SOC is through the Nelson County Collaboration. We have been working to connect with each other to build a sense of community and the Battle of the Generations basketball game is going to be an awesome way to bring the community together.
CREATE
When I think about my team, I think about what it is that I want to create for and with them. There is always ways to grow and become better as a group, especially with many new members. One thing that Coach Hoyes and I have created together is the text message system. Before, he was using emails to communicate with parents and some of the team and I would transfer the emails onto the Blog. However, there was still a gap in that connection with Coach and the athletes. Through the text message system, Hoyes only has to send out one message and it comes to all athletes who have put their name and number on the list at RUSH or at the pre-season meeting. It has been very effective and improved our amount of communication and clarity for cancellations or locations of meets and practices. One thing I have been extremely proud of so far this season is the GROWTH. We have had so many fearless athletes come out and try events that I haven't even thought about trying in my six years of running track...and they're amazing at those events! Not only have we seen tremendous growth in individuals on the team but also for our team as a whole as we have had several athletes join us to add to our family and grow in numbers as well. This has provided a great base for future service projects and team bonding opportunities. One thing I need to work really hard on in quarter four is getting together a service project for the end of the year. We need to come together as an entire team to serve our community and now that we have a pretty set team, there is a lot of opportunities for us to get involved.
One thing I have had a large role in helping to Create through SOC is the Generation Game with NCHS. The opportunity to be able to work with NCHS has been awesome and it is so good to see the two schools come together to work as ONE. Together, we have created an opportunity for the community to get involved and see the two schools come together with the goal of having the community support BOTH schools through this experience. We have created this event with the idea that it would continue on to be an annual event and provide a way for the schools to come together at the end of each year. Also through SOC, I have helped to create the Back in Action Dashboard for SOC members to put in their action plans for the day or week. It has helped to keep students accountable for their work and ask for help if they are stuck somewhere. After spring break, we plan to continue to improve upon it by adding short term and long term projects and have students indicate where they are working. Another thing I created was the ACT care for the Juniors before taking their ACT. This was something I think they enjoyed and made them feel encouraged before the ACT and I hope that it is continued on in the next years.
All around me, I see people working together for the better of themselves, each other, and our community. I continue to strive to apart of that and contribute what I can to the improvement of my student organization, SOC, Thomas Nelson as a whole, and my community. There are many things that play a role in caring for each other and, thankfully, I have been able to be apart of most of those initiatives. Like I said in my last blog post, I started the semester off with continuing my planning for 8th grade RUSH. This was a huge initiative and started my semester off on the right foot. This was also very helpful to my S.O. because we had 17 eighth graders sign up to join the Track and Field team. I was able to give their contact information to Coach Hoyes and we have seen several of those faces come out and practice with us in the past few weeks. As the season is just getting started and we are having everyone come together from their winter sports, I am excited to see the new athletes who will join and how they can contribute to our team. I am also excited to be able to come together as a team and serve our community partner. We have one event that is in the works and we will hopefully be able to plan the rest of it out with our partner to be able to better connect with them. There is a lot of growth going on for our team and it will only continue from here.
As far as SOC, there have been a lot of initiatives going on that I have been able to be apart of and help lead. One of the most recent projects we have started is our collaboration with Nelson County's Student Advisory Council. This collaboration is something that I am really looking forward to in our future work together because it is so important to build a relationship with our sister school. We already have an initiative planned and the more it comes together, the better it has become. There is still a lot to do but we have been working hard to get it all together and I am excited to see the result. From this collaboration, they have started to invite us to be apart of other initiatives. For example, this past week, they invited the SOC officers to join them at their First Responders Breakfast and we were able help serve breakfast and connect with our First Responders of Nelson County.
CONNECT
Throughout the second semester, I have tried to focus on effectively communicating and connecting with SOC members, my SO and sponsors. The first opportunity I had to connect was with the community through the 8th grade RUSH. I had a lot of interested 8th graders and now that track has started, I have seen several of those same 8th graders come out to practice, consistently. This feels like a huge accomplishment, even if there are only about 5 or 6 eighth graders coming because I worked hard to encourage them and connect with them so they would feel comfortable enough to take a healthy risk and try something new. This has set the foundation for them and will hopefully help them to continue being involved and taking healthy risks. Aside from the eighth grade RUSH, our own RUSH that we hosted at the beginning of the year has also brought out a lot of new faces. With a large graduating class last year, I was very worried that track and field would not have a lot of athletes to compete. However, this years turn out far exceeded my expectations and I could not be happier. We have a ton of true talent coming out and I have seen many who came during RUSH and asked good questions about being apart of track and field. Had we not connected with them, they may not have come out and been apart of a team like track and field.
There has also been several opportunities to connect within SOC. Earlier in the year, Caroline Boone, Grace Thurman, and I had the opportunity to go to OKH Middle School and teach them how to Make Art within their google slides and presentations in their Leadership Dynamics class. This was an awesome opportunity to connect with potential SOC members but also with Future Generals and show them skills that we have learned so they can put them into their work. Another way I have connected in SOC is through the Nelson County Collaboration. We have been working to connect with each other to build a sense of community and the Battle of the Generations basketball game is going to be an awesome way to bring the community together.
CREATE
When I think about my team, I think about what it is that I want to create for and with them. There is always ways to grow and become better as a group, especially with many new members. One thing that Coach Hoyes and I have created together is the text message system. Before, he was using emails to communicate with parents and some of the team and I would transfer the emails onto the Blog. However, there was still a gap in that connection with Coach and the athletes. Through the text message system, Hoyes only has to send out one message and it comes to all athletes who have put their name and number on the list at RUSH or at the pre-season meeting. It has been very effective and improved our amount of communication and clarity for cancellations or locations of meets and practices. One thing I have been extremely proud of so far this season is the GROWTH. We have had so many fearless athletes come out and try events that I haven't even thought about trying in my six years of running track...and they're amazing at those events! Not only have we seen tremendous growth in individuals on the team but also for our team as a whole as we have had several athletes join us to add to our family and grow in numbers as well. This has provided a great base for future service projects and team bonding opportunities. One thing I need to work really hard on in quarter four is getting together a service project for the end of the year. We need to come together as an entire team to serve our community and now that we have a pretty set team, there is a lot of opportunities for us to get involved.
One thing I have had a large role in helping to Create through SOC is the Generation Game with NCHS. The opportunity to be able to work with NCHS has been awesome and it is so good to see the two schools come together to work as ONE. Together, we have created an opportunity for the community to get involved and see the two schools come together with the goal of having the community support BOTH schools through this experience. We have created this event with the idea that it would continue on to be an annual event and provide a way for the schools to come together at the end of each year. Also through SOC, I have helped to create the Back in Action Dashboard for SOC members to put in their action plans for the day or week. It has helped to keep students accountable for their work and ask for help if they are stuck somewhere. After spring break, we plan to continue to improve upon it by adding short term and long term projects and have students indicate where they are working. Another thing I created was the ACT care for the Juniors before taking their ACT. This was something I think they enjoyed and made them feel encouraged before the ACT and I hope that it is continued on in the next years.
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Blog Reflection SOC Legacy Building
At the very beginning of semester 2, I continued my work for the 8th grade RUSH week activities. This was an event we began in semester 1 but occurred at the end of January and beginning of February. RUSH has always been a big event for the SOC and there is always a lot of work that goes into it. However, this time it was different. We were hosting this event for the incoming freshman knowing that they would have no idea what was going on. We knew that they didn't know much about our school culture or language and we would have to guide them through that. However, providing an opportunity for them to experience our school involvement and learn about what it means to be involved was really important to me. As an incoming freshman all I knew was that my sister was involved in anything there was to be apart of and I wanted to do that too, but it wasn't until about the end of my sophomore year that I began to do that. As I graduate and my younger brother begins high school, I wanted to inform him, as well as his classmates, just how you can get involved right from the beginning.
By hosting an event designed for the 8th graders, we were able to show them care by informing them on opportunities they have as freshman at Thomas Nelson. While we also were able to connect with them when they visited our organization booths and we created relationships with our small group through the activities we did, I think the overall component shown was care. Not only did we design something that was specific to their needs, we also gave them a space to explore their interests and see what they could become involved in.
There was a lot of work that the SOC and I put into this RUSH week. Before it began, I was very nervous because I wanted it to go well for the 8th graders so they would enjoy this experience. After it was over, I was very refreshed and was very proud of my work I did for the 8th grade community. I hope this is something that is continued every year to make sure the 8th graders feel welcome and more prepared when they come to Thomas Nelson.
Monday, February 5, 2018
Welcome to Track Season!
Although it's still snowing outside my window, thoughts are drifting toward hot performances on the track and in the field. We will begin our 2018 campaign with an informational meeting in room B113 today, 2/5 at 3:15. Here are a couple items that pertain to anyone interested in running, jumping or throwing for TNHS -
- 2018 schedule will be handed out today, are available in Hoyes's room, and will remain linked at the top of this page.
- TNHS Athletics Participation Packets. These will be handed out today and are available in Hoyes's room. This paperwork must be completed and turned in before official practice begins on 2/26. If our Athletic Department does not have your paperwork (including a current KHSAA physical) on file, you will not be eligible to train.
- Spiritwear order forms will go out today and all moneys are paid to Apparel and Awards Factory. Athletes are required to purchase their own uniform ($23) and are theirs to keep for future seasons.
- Track conditioning through most of February will be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday beginning with Tuesday, February 6th. 3:30 - 4:45 meeting at the fieldhouse. Kids should be prepared to train either outside or inside everyday. T-shirts, shorts, tights, sweats, and versatile combinations of layers are key - I keep hats and gloves in my bag all year 'round!
- Beginning Monday, February 26 we will train every day from 3:30-5:15.
- First meet is March 20th!!!
- And lastly, encourage folks to come out and join Track. There is an event for everyone, we have the best student-athletes in school, and we have the strongest tradition of success of any TNHS athletic program sending athletes to five consecutive KHSAA State Championships (11 including XC). It's never too late to start.
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