A Most Excellent Discovery

A colleague (and friend) of mine was chosen to be one of six winners of an award for outstanding teaching in our great state of Minnesota.  Yesterday was the awards banquet, and I was honored to be the token male at her table of family and friends as she received her recognition and cash prize.

The day consisted of a delicious brunch, a welcome address, introduction of self by the entire room, a keynote speaker, speeches by all six recipients, the presentation of awards, and picture/hugs/crying time.  As each segment of the day unfolded I began to consider the tremendous, and rare, opportunity I’d been granted by being invited to tag along to such an event - I was completely immersed in excellence.  The food: excellent.  The facility: excellent.  The keynote address: excellent.  The six recipient speeches: excellent.  The recipients themselves: obviously excellent to receive such an honor.

Looking deeper, I realized the crowd was comprised of people who all had achieved excellence in different ways.  Each award winner was allowed to invite up to ten people to sit at his or her table.  Many recipients brought parents; excellence is not nurtured by anything less than excellent parenting.  Several of this year’s winners were colleagues or friends of past winners of the same award who were invited to be in attendance.  When each person in the room was given the opportunity to introduce himself or herself all spoke eloquently and many were professionals of high standing in their chosen field.  Looking around our table I saw an excellent educator in each chair.  I cannot recall ever being surrounded by such a high level and percentage of excellence in a group of people.

So what?  What’s the big takeaway from this day?  Besides the 14,000 calories I was able to consume I took with me the importance of minding our surroundings.  Not just being aware of what’s around us, but making conscious decisions about who we choose for our social environment.  Vygotsky stated “children grow into the intellectual life around them.”  Adults do the same, but unlike children adults can make choices about the intellectual life, and the level of excellence, that surrounds them.  If we aspire to be excellent, we must live in excellence.  The six excellent educators who so deservedly were honored as such spoke about, and surrounded themselves with, excellent people.

I do not advocate turning up one’s nose to others based on the perceived level of their excellence; however, if members of our social circles impede our growth rather than contribute to it, perhaps some social reshuffling is in order.  To achieve excellence we must seek opportunities to be in the company of those who have reached a level of success we aspire to reach ourselves.  Let’s take stock of who moves in and out of our time and be mindful of those who nurture our growth and those who impede it.  Excellence is not achieved alone; neither is mediocrity.