“Gratitude” was the theme that ran in the Butler Eagle’s third weekly issue of the student section, Soar, on March 19.

It is so easy to fall in love with the stories told by Mimi Skowronski, a student in the Seneca Valley School District, who is a football player in the school’s junior football team. A former teacher suggested she try out for the “Inside Moves” national commercial for Dick’s Sporting Goods, where Mimi was selected and featured as a football player. (See it here: http://bit.ly/MovesMimi.)

All this while a pandemic rages on.

In this COVID-19 era, for students and parents alike, it certainly is a strange world. That strangeness affects not only the students, but the reactions of their friends, families and teachers.

In the March 19 issue, we love the comment by Hattie Ellison, grade 4, South Butler Intermediate Elementary School. With gratitude comes perseverance, and her comments about professional skier Lindsey Vonn are inspirational after Lindsey’s series of accidents that Hattie writes about.

“While she (Vonn) was recovering,” Hattie wrote, “she kept her spirits up, which helped her get through it. Lindsey had many other accidents while skiing, but she always kept moving.”

Isn’t that what Sylvester Stallone (“Rocky”) says to his son about the difference between a winner and a loser? About keeping moving?

“It ain’t about how hard you hit,” Rocky says. “It’s all about how hard you can GET hit and still keep moving forward.”

Amazing the maturity the students possess at a surprisingly early age.

Perhaps the recent events have tarnished the eyes of so-called “leaders.” Youth aren’t blind to what they see and hear.

Annajane Heinzman, in the ninth grade at Moniteau School District, was featured in Student Snapshots in the March 19 Soar and had this to say:

“I personally love history. It teaches us terrible things that have happened in the past and teaches us not to do that stuff again. It inspires me to never be like those people.”

We agree. Model those who will inspire you that do good for others, that speak well of others and contribute directly and positively to our community.

That is inspiration enough for us.

— AA