Being an MWHS and DECA alum, I keep fairly up to date on the MWHS Pride blog. Throughout the year, I have wanted to write a piece but have not really known what to say. A lot of other graduates, as well as current students, teachers, and community members have written phenomenal articles about our White Hawk pride and all the great reasons to be at MWHS. I was not sure what else I had to offer to the discussion without simply reiterating the themes that have emerged as the school year has gone along. Thus, being the independent thinker I’ve been taught to be, I have struggled to write anything worthwhile, and thought I might not write anything at all.
However, I still felt compelled to write an entry for the blog.
Not in a self-promotional, “I want to do this” sort of way. I owe it to so much of the Mound-Westonka community to share the positive influence being a White Hawk had on my life. I am proud of who I am and the time I spent at MWHS played and continues to play a large role in my life.
I owe it to my DECA advisors, Mrs. Simonson, Mrs. Lolich, and Mr. Lee for helping develop my passion for business and DECA, and for constructing the best DECA program in the state.
I owe it to all the phenomenal teachers, like Mr. Bulman, Mr. Paul, Mrs. Paul, Mr. Hiebert, Mr. Kaeter, Mrs. Morinville, Mr. Humbert, Mrs. Opel, Mr. Sobiech, Mr. Bray, Profe Wardlow, Profe Lyngby, and others I never had. As much as we appreciate our teachers at MWHS, I never really appreciated how quality all my teachers were until college, when many of my peers were not nearly as well prepared for college as I and my fellow graduates were. I owe it to those teachers to share how positively they impacted my life, and how easy the transition to college was for me, almost entirely because of their willingness to help and passion for teaching. The phrase “above and beyond” is thrown around too often, but no cliché fits the MWHS staff better.
I owe it to my guidance counselor, Ms. Baumann, who helped me trudge through my college decision, and anything else that ever came up. I also owe it to her for starting the Westonka Summer Institute, which gave me the opportunity to go to China. Without that program, I doubt I would have had the wherewithal to live by myself in India this past summer.
I owe it to Ms. Bormes and Mrs. Carlson (who ran the Link Crew program while I was at MWHS) to share the sense of community and connections Link Crew builds, which I to this day appreciate. I consider my Link Leaders as well as many of those in my Link Crews to be friends to this day.
I owe it to my basketball coach, Rick Dahl, who not only taught me how to play basketball well enough to be a collegiate basketball player, but much of my life philosophy. I do not think anyone has as large as of an impact on my life as he does. I cannot say enough good things about my years on the basketball team, and feel greatly unsatisfied not being able to more eloquently and effectively describe how great the program and my coaching was.
I owe it to the administrators who make all these opportunities possible, and who are in constant pursuit of providing MWHS with the best educational experience taxes can buy.
I owe it to all community members who are willing to buy our fundraising items, support our teams, and create a welcoming environment at MWHS. This includes all the parents, who make so much happen.
I owe it to all the friends I made and have kept over the years.
I could easily, and probably should, write a separate blog for each of those mentioned above and those I unfortunately forgot. And sadly, that would do an exceptionally inadequate job of paying back my debts to Mound-Westonka High School. And I think that’s the point: with so many people deserving so much praise, how could I not be proud to be a Mound-Westonka White Hawk?
Dan
If you have a story that you would like to share, please email mwhspride@277apps.org for more information! We would love to hear from you!
