2 minute read
Point of View Dustin Taylor, Longview ISD
Oh, the Places We will Go
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by Dustin Taylor Communications Specialist Longview ISD
At the tail end of 2018, I received a call from a former co-worker of mine from my newspaper days. While I had moved to the north of Dallas and was out of the journalism business, he had moved into the illustrious business of spreading the good news of Longview ISD. He told me that they were looking to hire another person for the community relations team and he wondered if I might be interested.
I am now about to start my third year with the job. Looking back at my life, I feel that it is essential to remember that no matter what our plans are, no matter our goals, the path ahead is always going to be up in the air.
The past is the future.
For me, this quite literally is the truth. A decade and a half ago I graduated from Longview High School. I never expected to work for any school district, let alone the one that helped shape me during my teen years. Nor did I expect to return to East Texas once I had moved away.
Whether one winds up right back where they started, such as I have, or not, the past is still the future. From the contacts you meet to the lessons learned, you never know what will impact your future.
Working in public relations for a school district, we deal with countless people every day, both those within the district and those from outside. A student in middle school that we share a photo of on district social media, praising them for something good they did, has endless possibilities for them, others and us. A person we chat with during our off hours might decide to bring their child to our district because of our interactions.
It is easy to not think about repercussions, as working and living is enough to preoccupy the mind. But I would say that we should all be mindful of our interactions with others as much as possible due to repercussions. While hearing the word “repercussions” likely brings bad connotations to mind, it can just as easily be good things.
Let us continue our jobs with the dream of our actions leading to the best possible repercussions for our students and districts.
The future is exciting.
With COVID-19 starting to finally move out of our peripheral vision, let us take note that we have mostly weathered the storm quite well as a state and country. The future ahead has its cloudy storms, but I believe that the bright spots outshine the dark ones.
As we age and the students continue to grow, we will have new incoming students whose lives will be shaped by our districts.
Let us do our best and help them to become adults that we will be proud to say that we knew as they grew up in our district.
May we continue along our path to bring a brighter future for our district, our state and our world. In our career field, we help shape the future.
