Willingess
Weekly update #276 5/4/2025 to 5/10/2025
Author Brian Herbert said, "The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice." Let me use this thought to help set the approach to this weekly update as I share some of my week serving as mayor of the best small town in America.
My staff and I are working on finishing up a weekly book club on something I read for the first time a few months ago. The book is Soundtracks by Jon Acuff, and while I read regularly, I am by no means a fast reader, but when I picked this one up, I couldn’t put it down and finished it in a weekend. As I read it, I saw sections that different members of the city team needed to read, and after some debate with myself, and an unknown to him encouragement from Seymour High School Principal Steve Bush, I decided to have team members join me in reading it. Like all teams, we have some regular readers and some that don’t read much at all. For most though, this book was outside their normal reading choices. One aspect that has already shown itself is using the correct vocabulary among the group. As we wrap up this exercise, several have shared that they appreciate different aspects of the book, and some have even asked what is next. While I don’t have a book in mind, I won’t hesitate as much when the next one makes me think the team needs to read this. Thank you, Steve, for doing your own version of this with your team at SHS because it helped me take the plunge with my team, and thank you to my team for using your capacity, ability, and willingness to learn.
Leadership Jackson County has a group of eighth grade learners that they work with each semester, and with school coming to an end, they wrapped up another season of YoJack here in Jackson County. The group works on learning various topics around leadership with the goal of helping grow our youth into the leaders of tomorrow. For the last several years, I have been one of the speakers as I proclaim it YoJack Day celebrating our youth and their accomplishment as they complete the program. For several years now, I have focused my words on how the energy you approach tasks with can often set the tone for what you are working on. Much like when I get to work with the Mayor’s Youth Council, I walk away more energized than ever before, and they always make me hopeful for the future of our community. Thank you to the leaders of YoJack for all you do to help teach our youth, and thank you to the youth for being a part of this year’s YoJack class.
This week was full of celebrations and fun events, and I will try to add as many as I can in this last paragraph before I go. This week saw a Certified Nursing Assistant pinning as Lutheran Community Home. Those pinned are students at SHS who completed the course while in high school via Ivy Tech Community College. The Band program had a chance to highlight all they had learned this year with a concert featuring eighth graders through seniors. Indiana American Water Company awarded a grant to help Seymour Parks and Recreation remind everyone to think about mental health each spring. Several of our area youth organized a car show supporting Special Olympics, which drew a wonderful crowd on Friday night. Ribbon cuttings, retirements, and so much more made up this past week, and many times over I saw community members use, as author Brian Herbert described in his quote, their gifts, skills, and choices to learn, "The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice."