Welcome back!

Hi everyone (both old and new)...

Today begins a new school year at SBU.

New School years are always both exciting and frightening. Think back and remember your first day of school. Or first day at a new school. Or to your feelings waking up today getting ready for today. The excitement tempered with inner butterflies of nervous anticipation.

To keep those "inner butterflies" in perspective consider:

The year ahead will be full of new learning, new opportunities, fun, and friends. It will also have its share of hard work, long hours, sadness, uncertainty, and needless worrying.

Let us work to ensure that the good trumps the bad. That we take advantage of our learning opportunities while not letting our fears get in the way. That we remain upbeat and positive in the face of uncertainty and challenge. That we are caring with others and that we treat others as we would like to be treated.

If we do these things, then assuredly this will be a great school year!

Quotes etc

As this blog is more informal and mainly for students, I think I will go back to the newsletter tradition of including quotes on a regular basis...

* Adapt or perish, now as ever, is Nature's inexorable imperative"---H.G. Wells

* The greatest obstacle to happiness is to expect too much happiness---Bernard de Fontenelle

* If you want to do something, do it!---Platus

As quoted in The Book of Positive Quotations by John Cook