Grit = Success

While hanging out at the Fryeburg Fair yesterday, I was reminded of my initial areas of study in my PhD program. I was standing around conversing and observing with parents of 4H kids at a cookout. Partway through, kids casually stroll into the areas, walking their cows, getting ready and prepping for the next day, a day when they auction off their animal, and the past year of emotions will consume them. What struck me was the commitment of these kids to their animal projects. They would stop to check in with parents, letting them know they would feed and care for their animal project. It was the parents hanging out for a few hours, eating and talking amongst a group of families that have been an unending support system on the past year's journey. They are conversing with people who understand the exhaustion of the fair when you have animals there—a camaraderie of families who understand grit.

Angela Duckworth is an expert in grit. Angela has found that grit—a combination of passion and perseverance for a singularly important goal—is the hallmark of high achievers in every domain.

Angela's studies have found that self-discipline has more significant results than IQ when applied to academics and that many fail to reach their full potential due to a lack of self-discipline. Simply put, they don't have the grit it takes to succeed. The kids raise their animals and bring them to the fair to show and auction. They have GRIT.

The fairgoers enjoy the animals. We all ooh and ahh at how cute they are. We don't often stop to appreciate the countless hours of hard work put into those animals and the time spent feeding them before the sun goes up and working with them after it has set. The times spent watching them in the middle of the night because they need extra care, correlating the calendar schedules because one might be having babies, not being able to hand out with your friends because the animals need to come first. And if you are not a family with animals to care for, you don't see the heartbreak when your animal is auctioned, and it is time to say goodbye. The kids pick themselves up by their bootstraps and begin their next project, waking before the sun and going to bed long after the moon has graced her presence.

I am so excited to have the opportunity to have an approved charter school with an agriculture focus. I cannot imagine a school community full of students with grit, but I am ready to watch it happen.

Please help us make these grit-filled dreams come true. Please help us provide the perfect community for these students to thrive, on and off the farm, in and out of the classroom.

Your donation will help secure the property needed for these students. Any amount will help, as all amounts can turn into something more significant.

PS... These babies were just born at the fair. So cute!

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