The professionalism exhibited by every individual was truly outstanding. Again, thanks to all of you, the parents, and the Cullowhee Valley School staff, Principal Ron Yount, Assistant Principal Ellen Hunter and Arlin Middleton, from the superintendent's office. To be a teacher is to care about the questions and have an endless hunger and alertness for the answers. To be a teacher is to have an investment in the lives of those you teach, so that who you are to them is part of the formative equation of their lives. To be a teacher is to risk your own vulnerability so that others know it's okay to make mistakes.
Nobody is right all the time.
To be a teacher is to look for the depth in yourself and, from that place, reach out to the depth in another. Tom Dillard was such a teacher. We may have to live with the reckless decisions the school board makes but it is the board members alone who, each day, have to look at themselves in the mirror. Most days, I can't imagine what they must see. A special thanks to extended to the several local churches for their gifts and to SMHS supporters and fans who contributed at the football and basketball games.