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Every Child. Every Day.
Can you spare a couple of minutes of your time each Sunday? Join our weekly blog exploring how to transform education through intentional, meaningful engagement tailored for every student, every day. Together, we can create classrooms where no child feels unseen, unwelcome, or misunderstood.
November 9, 2025
The Heart of Servant Leadership
When we talk about leadership, we often think about titles, roles, or authority. But the most powerful leadership doesn’t come from position. Instead, it comes from service. Servant leadership is a mindset that places others at the center. It asks, How can I support the growth, well-being, and development of those around me?
I often say there is a difference between governance and leadership. Governance is about control, compliance, and maintaining order. It focuses on rigid rules, forced-systems, and obedience. But leadership is about people. It is about developing capacity, strengthening teams, and nurturing the next generation of leaders. Governing ensures obedience. Leadership ensures voice.
And today, I want to honor a group of people who embody leadership in its purest form: our veterans and those currently serving in the military.
Choosing to serve is choosing something greater than oneself. Veterans understand teamwork, sacrifice, and courage. They serve not for recognition or reward, but out of duty, honor, and a deep commitment to the collective good. They lead by example. They lead with discipline, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to those beside them.
This spirit of servant leadership is something we are all called to. We serve when we listen with compassion. We serve when we protect the dignity of others. We serve when we help someone grow, especially when no one is watching. We call that integrity.
Veterans remind us that leadership is not about exerting power. It's integrity. It’s about lifting others up, protecting what matters, and leaving something stronger behind. My father, Charles Rivers, modeled this deeply. He was a Korean Conflict Army veteran, and his years of service not only protected the freedoms of this country, they also shaped the trajectory of my life. Because of his sacrifice, I was able to attend college through the Ohio War Orphan & Severely Disabled Veterans’ Children Scholarship program. It was one of many scholarships that afforded me the opportunity to attend Denison. His legacy of service is rooted in me. It shows up in my calling — to serve children, to create opportunities, and to lead with heart. His service was not just something he did. It is something he passed down.
So today, and every day, may we honor the leaders who have served — not only with our words, but by how we choose to lead and serve one another.
November 2, 2025
The Power of Your Mindset: Why How You Think Changes How You Live
This work is personal to me. Before I ever studied teaching methods or academic content, I majored in Psychology and Communications, where I learned that the developmental brain requires us to understand how powerful the mind truly is. Learning the power of our own cognition, and how we translate thought into language, is part of my educational lineage. If we can tap into the mind and the heart (which are deeply interconnected), we unlock the foundation for learning, behavior, growth, and healing. As scripture teaches, “As a man thinks, so is he.”
And here is the great news — We control our thoughts and the thoughts that do not serve us well, we can change. The mindset we inherited or developed in survival does not have to be the mindset we live with. We can reshape it. We can strengthen it. We can choose what we cultivate.
Our mindset is not simply something we have, it’s something we create. And it influences nearly every dimension of our lives.
Your Mindset Shapes Your Health
Research shows that people with a hopeful, optimistic worldview actually live longer and have a lower risk of heart disease. This doesn’t mean pretending life is easy. It means recognizing that our bodies respond differently when we believe growth is possible.
Your thoughts speak to your cells. And your cells listen.
It Strengthens Mental Well-Being
When we view setbacks as temporary rather than defining, we build resilience. Practices like gratitude, reflection, and self-compassion help us stay rooted and recover with clarity instead of overwhelm.
Your mindset can either be your storm… or your anchor in it.
It Deepens Relationships
A grounded mindset nurtures empathy, patience, and trust. When we interpret others with compassion rather than assumption or fear, connection expands. And strong relationships are one of the most reliable predictors of lifelong well-being.
Your mindset becomes the tone of your relationships.
Mindset Influences Your Career & Purpose
People who see challenge as part of the growth process tend to adapt more quickly, lead with clarity, and persevere through uncertainty. They are not successful because life is smooth. They are successful because they stay in the process long enough to grow.
Scripture reminds us, "The race is not given to the swift or to the strong, but to the one who endures until the end." So, in essence, sometimes you simply must stay the course.
So Why Does This Matter?
Because mindset is not fixed. It is trainable, expandable, and strengthened through practice.
You don’t need endless positivity. You simply need to stay open:
  • open to growing
  • open to healing
  • open to becoming
A positive outlook doesn’t guarantee an easy life, but it does make a meaningful, grounded, purpose-driven life possible.
Because it is Personal
I have learned this through my own journey. As I become more seasoned in life, I am realizing that the hardships, the stumbling blocks, the roadblocks, and the challenges were not evidence of failure—they were teachers. They were key to the seasons of appreciation, recognition, change agency, and even seasons of joy.
This has transformed my mind, even as I still face difficult moments. Now, when I encounter something painful or heavy, I can say with grounded confidence:
“I know this too will pass. And this too is simply a line in an amazing story already written.”
Mindset does not remove the storm. It reminds us that we are not powerless in it.
Previous Blog Posts
October 2025 Post- Click here.
August 2025 Post- Click here.
July 2025 Posts- Click here.
June 2025 Posts - Click here.
Every child deserves to be seen, welcomed, and understood.