SUPER MONDAY

A motivational and informational morning message from Superintendent Willis

Week 9 ~ October 9th, 2023

Super Monday Message

I read a LinkedIn post the other day that advocated for reading the classic novel Watership Down. The post claimed that the silly fictional high school book about rabbits was actually a lesson manual for leadership. I have a brother, Kyle, that doesn’t really enjoy reading and he made his distaste for reading well known in high school. So when, in high school, Kyle mentioned to me that I should read Watership Down, I was intrigued.

The book is indeed about rabbits, but the characters in the book were real people. The author of the book, Richard Adams, said that the personalities of the rabbits are copies of people he met throughout his life. Mr. Adams served in the British Army during World War II and many of the rabbits are the likenesses of his commanding officers. Mr. Adams makes the personalities seem so real that you sometimes forget you’re reading about rabbits. Though he wrote the book as a collection of bedtime stories for his girls, the book has powerful lessons.

In the story, a runty rabbit named Fiver has a premonition that something really bad is going to happen to their warren. He insists that they must leave at once. His brother, Hazel, reluctantly believes him and begins trying to convince other rabbits to leave with them. They convince only nine others to leave with them. 

From the time they leave they are in constant danger. Despite Hazel’s reluctance to leave himself, he is forced to be the leader of the group of wanderers. The challenges they face early make several want to go back. Then they learn that their home warren was destroyed by humans shortly after they left. Despite that vote of confidence in Fiver, they face many more hardships and have to trust Hazel’s leadership even more.

My favorite character in the book is a rabbit called Bigwig. He is the biggest and toughest of the rabbits that chose to follow Hazel from the warren. As the smaller Hazel had to learn to lead, Bigwig had to learn to trust and to follow. 

My favorite moment in the book is close to the end when Hazel’s new warren is attacked by the main antagonist of the book, General Woundwort. Woundwort is a huge rabbit that commands a large aggressive warren. Woundwort fights with Bigwig and nearly kills him. Woundwort is severely injured himself in the fight. Bigwig still plants himself at the mouth of the hole protecting all the others. Woundwort and his officers are astounded by Bigwig’s resolve and strength. They try to convince the wounded Bigwig to surrender the warren rather than be killed. The critical moment is when Bigwig responds that he cannot move because his chief rabbit commanded him to protect the warren. Woundwort and his band of officers are in shock as they never considered that this warrior of a rabbit was not the leader. They begin to fear exceedingly as they imagine an even bigger and stronger rabbit behind Bigwig.

I love that moment because we can often mistake who the leaders of an organization are and what they should look like. We look for certain characteristics, but anyone can learn to lead. Good leaders also know how to follow. Everyone can learn how to support a leader while learning to lead themselves. Next time you know you have a long road trip coming up, download the Libby App, use your bookmobile card to login, and download the Watership Down audiobook. The Utah Online Library has almost every major audiobook that you can digitally download for free. You may have to wait your turn, but it’s my favorite library. Happy reading and listening in week 9. 

If you want to read the LinkedIn post…link.

Super High Fives

Just a couple of the awesome recent accomplishments that need a big thank you. 

• Super high five to the baseball team for a great season. Super high five to the coaches, moms, little league coaches, fans, and everyone else that has made the Piute baseball dynasty so fun.
• Super high five to seniors Kinley and Kaycee who played their last home volleyball game last week.

Other Super Information

• The November ballot will have a question about a bond for a consolidated elementary school in Junction. A public hearing will be held on October 24th at 6:00 PM at Piute High School. Everyone is invited to the meeting. This link is to a community information folder regarding the proposal.
• The regular monthly school board meeting on October 10th has been changed to 6:30 PM instead of the usual 3:30 PM.
• 2nd Draft Winter Sports Schedule

Super Weekly Schedule