Pleasantly Exhausted

​Today was the first day of the 2026–27 school year. This is the beginning of my 14th year in education, and possibly for the first time since COVID, I came away from all our first-day happenings feeling genuinely hopeful. I am completely wiped out, 100000% ready to eat my dinner, pop some Tylenol, and go lie down, but I’m also satisfied in the particular way you can only be after a genuinely good day.
My day involved a lot of running back and forth, bouncing around the building, and moving from one task to another. Through all of that, there were a few things I had to keep at the forefront of my mind. As I interacted with staff, students, and the occasional guest, that peppy back-to-school energy needed to remain front and center. Questions and tech issues came in on a rotating basis, responsibilities piled on top of one another, and I worked to build buy-in for some of the ways we’re trying to reframe our school culture. Through all of it, I tried my hardest to remain enthusiastic and excited.
Funnily enough, this was the first time in a long time that staying enthusiastic and excited wasn’t particularly hard.
At some point, a little muscle memory kicked in. I fell easily into the familiar rhythm as I watched students and staff welcome one another back, laugh and work together, and chatter in the hallways between classes. I watched students proudly march through the school carrying fresh-picked produce they had planted last spring. The building felt alive again.
It has been a long time since our school truly felt like an OHANA to me. Today, for the first time in a long time, it did. It reminded me of what I love about this school and what I have always believed it could be.
So even as I sit here tonight with my back and legs hurting after a day that demanded far too much from them, I honestly find myself thinking it was worth it. Not because good work should require us to run ourselves into the ground, but because today gave something back. There is a difference between being drained by something and being tired because you poured yourself into something that mattered. Tonight, I can feel that difference.
Today reminded me that making a difference in education doesn’t always require some grand gesture. Sometimes it’s simply being genuinely glad to welcome students back. It’s giving people a reason to buy into a new idea. It’s laughing together, proudly carrying vegetables through the hallway, or helping create the kind of building where enthusiasm doesn’t have to be forced. Sometimes leadership is simply people deciding that things can feel better and doing what they can to make that happen.
I know every day this year won’t feel this good. Some of them will probably just be exhausting. But today gave me a glimpse of what our school can feel like, and it reminded me why I care so much in the first place.
Tonight, I am sore, tired, and 100000% ready to go lie down. But I am also hopeful. Hopeful because today gave me the first glimpse of what could be different. Not someday or in theory, but right there in the laughter, the enthusiasm, and the feeling of OHANA returning to our halls.
This year… I want to help make that difference last.