MS learns about leadership with special guest
Retired NFL player Jake Long joined Middle School’s latest town meeting to talk life lessons on leadership.
By Sierra Smith, Communications Specialist
“With the first pick in the 2008 NFL draft, the Miami Dolphins select…”
National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell’s words floated through the speakers of Durnan Auditorium as students in grades 5-8 watched during Middle School’s monthly town meeting.
Retired NFL offensive lineman and USN parent Jake Long stepped to the front of the auditorium as Head of Middle School Jeff Greenfield explained that the video clip students just watched featured Long nearly 15 years ago.
Long, who served as a captain of both his college and professional football teams, joined the town meeting to share with middle school students his perspective on demonstrating leadership.
"It is my goal to enrich the learning and social emotional topics that are threaded within our core curriculum, advisory, and community programming. Speakers like Jake Long are brought in to break down the barriers of the classroom walls and deepen learning by sharing personal, lived experiences that create meaningful learning connections," Middle School Counselor Randi Days, Ed.D. explained.
"It is my goal to enrich the learning and social emotional topics that are threaded within our core curriculum, advisory, and community programming. Speakers like Jake Long are brought in to break down the barriers of the classroom walls and deepen learning by sharing personal, lived experiences that create meaningful learning connections," Middle School Counselor Randi Days, Ed.D. explained.
As Long spoke, he connected lessons he learned during his football career to the everyday lives of Middle School students. He reminded students of the importance of working together and being reliable by explaining the role of the offensive line — to work in unison to protect the quarterback or running back — and encouraged students to adopt a mentality of failing forward.
“It’s ok to fail as long as you’re accountable, as long as you’re reliable, as long as you work as hard as you can and you learn from those mistakes and those failures, you’re going to grow,” Long explained. “If you fall down, get back up, and you learn from it, you’re failing forward, you’ll be better for it.”
Long continued by advising students to have a short memory, a phrase his coaches often used to encourage him and his teammates to let things go rather than be held back by previous mistakes. And, as a final piece of advice, Long cautioned students against letting pride prevent them from working together at their best.
“Humble down,” Long’s voice boomed over the crowd of students and faculty as he offered them a mantra he and his friends used over the years to check their egos and hold each other accountable in a friendly and respectful way.
“I thought it was really cool to have an NFL player come and talk to us about his life and how we can use what he learned in our futures,” Nael Idrees ’30 shared after the town meeting.
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Nashville, TN 37212
Phone: 615-321-8000
Fax: 615-321-0889
Email: info@usn.org
River Campus
1200 County Hospital Road
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2000 Edgehill Ave.
Nashville, TN 37212
Phone: 615-321-8000
Fax: 615-321-0889
Email: info@usn.org
River Campus
1200 County Hospital Road
Nashville, TN 37218
USN Mission:
University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.
University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.