Perception is Everything

Joseph Jiles, one of our Ambassadors, wrote following illustrating his thoughts about his high school experiences. Joseph is a student at Lanier High School and has been an Ambassador for the last four years. 

I woke up this morning to perhaps the most comfortable bed I’ve slept in 2 months. It was my bed of course, but today it seemed especially warm and seductive. After managing to fight free of its alluring charms, I happened to catch the eye of the date on my alarm clock.

Oh God, it couldn’t be! I stared in disbelief or, rather, abject horror, trying to rationalize the sudden lapse of time in my brain lethargic with the threat of that looming responsibility:

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that dramatic, but it certainly felt like it. And even if waking up in the morning isn’t that scary, it certainly is that draining. Now, that’s partially due to my own laziness, but it’s also because the thought of school just isn’t as exciting as it used to be.

Why? Because, where I once thought of a colorful, inviting place, with fun, engaging work, I now think only think of a run-down, barely functioning place with gray, colorless walls just waiting to suck the life- energy right out of me.

Now, you could say that it’s just a building or that it’s just how I perceive it. But what people don’t realize is that perception is EVERYTHING.

It is a well-known fact that a person’s perception of their environment influences how they feel about themselves, therefore, the state of our school buildings sends a message to us as students about our value in the community.

This made the passing the recent passing of the JPS bond referendum so important. It may seem as though upgrading a building doesn’t do much. But upgrading the building shifts the environment in a positive direction. So, we feel better about coming to school, and we will perceive it positively.

And when we perceive our schools in a better light. then we will feel pride in our schools and we can enter the world with more confidence. This ultimately improves people’s perceptions of us.
And, perception is everything.

Changing the perception of JPS is the very reason why my fellow Ambassadors and I worked so hard on advocating for the bond issue. We understood the power of perception and environment on the success of our peers. So, we gathered at Operation Shoestring to strategize on how to get the word out. Most importantly we wanted able to speak out and get our and the voice of our fellow classmates’ voices heard!

Now the bond referendum has passed, it feels like the community might be listening. Although I’m a senior, and I don’t expect to see these long-term changes and growth, it still feels good knowing I did my part to make things a little bit better. So, maybe next year, kids won’t wake up in August, HORRIFIED about the first day of school.