New school year means a new start

For many area students, a new school year has already started. With each new year there are so many opportunities to sort of re-create yourself.

Students go back to school shopping for new outfits. Many teens especially, need a new haircut to go with the new clothes and backpack. A new school year leaves the door wide open for a new beginning.

This year, instead of worrying about new hair and makeup, wouldn't it be great if every single student approached the new school year with a new and improved attitude?

If last year was a little rough, it's a new year.

Didn't do well in your classes last year? Make this the year academics are your priority.

Whatever issue made you glad the last school year was coming to a close can be a tremendous opportunity for personal growth in the new year.

If you and your teachers clashed last year, it's a new year with new teachers.

If you had friend issues, you'll have new classes with new chances to build friendships.

Even if you made some of the worst mistakes of your life last year, put them behind you and start with a new attitude.

Don't let the grim reapers waiting on the sidelines for you to fail bring you down. You might stumble as you try to start on a path for a new you, but be your own personal cheerleader and stay focused.

Begin each day thankful that you live in America where you are entitled to a free and public education. Enter the classroom thankful that the educator in front of you wanted to make a difference in your life, and that's why he or she chose to be a teacher.

As you walk the halls, be tolerant of the people walking beside you. Twenty years from now, you are going to be so amazed at what life holds for each of them.

Look at Tom Cruise. Well, maybe he's a bad example. Some people think he's a little nuts, but he is a tremendously successful nut who people regularly tormented and teased in high school.

Don't you be one of those kids who is taunted by the memories of teasing Tom.

Be nice. That sounds so simple, but apparently it's often difficult.

It's easy to be surface nice. That's being nice when it's easy - you know, telling someone you like their outfit but then turning to someone else and ripping the person to shreds. That's not nice.

It's harder to be nice to people who are different than we are, who make different choices than we do or who may not be very nice themselves.

But, be nice anyway because it's the right thing to do.

Honor your friendships this school year. Believe it or not, some of the people you hold dear now will be your bridesmaids and groomsmen.

Some of them may be the godparents of your children.

Some of them may be holding your hand years from now at the most difficult point in your life, so honor those relationships this school year.

It's easy to get mad because someone wore the same dress or dated the same guy or looked at you wrong, but does any of that really matter?

Forgive them for whatever it is and get back to cherishing the amazing gift God gives us in friends.

Respect everyone - from the bus driver who gets you to school safely to the administrator who greets you by name in the hallway.

Respect the teacher who stayed up all night grading your paper and the lunchroom staff who makes sure you eat.

Respect the custodians who have to clean up after you and the students who are sharing this special time in your life.

Respect each other this school year.

So be thankful, be tolerant, be nice, be honorable, be forgiving and be respectful. Sounds like a great way to start a new school year and a new path for yourself.

Kim Smith is a member of the Craven County Board of Education and the mother of two daughters.