OWNERSHIP - October 2019 FOCUS w/ Matt Shoaff
Shelbyville alumni & area school Leader, Matt Shoaff, addressed Main Street School Students on Monday, October 7th, 2019 regarding OWNERSHIP, the October Focus. Mr. Shoaff is the Okaw Valley High School Principal currently. Mr. Shoaff once sat in this same gym as a student & still feels like it is “his school” with pride. He began with a definition of ownership...meaning it is mine & I own it. He discussed “owning” your behavior (attitude & effort) & “owning” your education. He described what "ownership" looked like & why important with a focus on "owning" mistakes and learning from them.
He also read a book, “The Dog Poop Initiative,” which described a familiar & humorous story of a dog pooping on a soccer field & how different people responded. Life has "poopers" who do not consider how their decisions affect others. Life also has even more "pointers" who see a problem, then blame or whine & give advice on avoiding the "poo." However, in a world of too many "poopers" & "pointers," consider being a "scooper." A "scooper" will take action & this initiative is what leaders do. Mr. Shoaff ended with a story of starfish. A young man was throwing starfish back into the ocean that were washed up & beached. An old man asked him why is he bothering? There are too many starfish & they will probably just wash back up again. The young man replied, "I made a difference to that one" as he threw another starfish back into the ocean. This was a great message for our Student-Leaders.
