I have a pretty consistent morning routine. I wake up, make my coffee, and usually start the day with a quick word puzzle. I tell myself that the puzzle gets my brain working before I really have to think about anything important, though honestly I also just enjoy doing it. After that, I take a moment to set an intention for the day. Nothing formal or particularly profound. I simply think about what I want to accomplish that day, how I want to approach it, or sometimes just who I want to be as I move through the hours ahead.
I do this pretty much every morning, and I’ve come to really value those few minutes. There is something about the beginning of a new day that feels full of possibility. Yes, I usually already have a calendar full of meetings, a list of things I need to accomplish, and any number of responsibilities waiting for me, but before all of that gets started I have a chance to decide what I want the day to be about and who I want to be.
I think the beginning of a new school year gives us the same opportunity.
Today was the first day of the 2026-27 school year at BCIS, and for me it was a beginning in more ways than one. It was the start of a new year for our students and teachers, but it was also my first day of school as a member of this community. After months of planning, anticipation, transition, and imagining what this new chapter might look like, there were finally students in the hallways and teachers in classrooms. School felt like school again.
And it was great.
I spent much of the day walking around campus, meeting students, talking with teachers, and getting to know my new community. I saw teachers working incredibly hard to make sure students felt welcome and included. I saw friends reconnecting in the hallways and lots and lots of smiling faces. Our High School students filled the theater for our morning bash, bringing the kind of excitement and energy that you can only really get when hundreds of teenagers gather in one place after being apart for a few months. Later, I wandered through the halls and heard classrooms full of students talking, asking questions, laughing, and learning together. After a summer of empty classrooms and quiet hallways, it was wonderful to hear that sound again.
All of that got me thinking about beginnings and the opportunity we have right now to be intentional about the year ahead.
I’m a big believer in trying to live a purpose-driven life. For me, that doesn’t mean having every moment planned or pretending that I always know exactly where I’m going. I certainly don’t. It means trying to identify the things that matter most to me and then making decisions that move me toward them. Setting intentions is one of the ways I try to do that.
When we identify something we want to accomplish or someone we want to become, we give ourselves a direction. That direction can motivate us, but it also gives us a useful way to evaluate the choices we make along the way. Does this move me closer to my goal? Does it help me become the person I want to be? If it doesn’t, maybe it’s a distraction. That doesn’t mean we never get distracted. We’re human. But recognizing something as a distraction makes it a little easier to decide whether it deserves our time and energy.
I also think there is real satisfaction in knowing we are making progress toward something that matters to us. We don’t necessarily have to achieve some enormous goal to experience that feeling. Sometimes it comes from simply recognizing that we are moving in the right direction. We kept a promise to ourselves. We tried something difficult. We made a better decision. We learned something new. We helped someone. We took one more step toward becoming the person we want to be. Those small accomplishments add up, and I think they contribute significantly to our overall sense of purpose and wellbeing.
A new school year is a wonderful time to think this way because, in some sense, everyone gets a fresh start. Students can decide they want to approach a difficult subject differently, meet some new people, try out for a team, join an activity, take more risks in class, or simply be a little kinder to themselves and others. Teachers can try something new in their classrooms, build new relationships with students, or rethink something they have done the same way for years. All of us have an opportunity to think about what we want this year to mean and then begin taking steps toward making that happen.
Of course, today was the easy part. It was the first day. Everyone was excited, everyone looked great, and the energy across campus was incredible. There will be harder days. There will be assignments that don’t go well, lessons that need to be reworked, goals we don’t meet, disagreements, disappointments, and mornings when getting out of bed feels like enough of an accomplishment on its own.
That’s probably when our intentions matter most.
When things become complicated, having a sense of where we want to go gives us something to come back to. We can remind ourselves why we started, make adjustments, recognize the distractions that have pulled us away, and start moving in the right direction again. We may even decide somewhere along the way that the destination needs to change. That’s okay too. Purpose gives us direction, but it doesn’t require us to stop learning or changing along the way.
So, as I finish my own first day of school at BCIS, I find myself thinking about the months ahead and everything this community will experience together during the 2026-27 school year. There will be learning and challenges, performances and competitions, successes and disappointments, new friendships and old ones strengthened. There will be moments we can anticipate and plenty that will surprise us.
Today, though, we got to start.
Tomorrow morning, I’ll probably begin the same way I usually do. I’ll grab some coffee, work through a word puzzle, and take a few minutes to think about my intention for the day ahead.
Maybe the beginning of a new school year is a good opportunity for all of us to do something similar. What do you want this year to be about? What do you want to accomplish? More importantly, who do you want to become?
Then we get to work.
One day at a time.
Garrenteed Learning 