This fall, I was inspired as I watched National Geographic’s television show “Mars” with our daughters. The last scene in the show is Space X founder Elon Musk watching one of their rocket launches with their full team.

You can watch this scene here:

The tension in the room is palatable as they watch a project they have poured their lives into unfold before their eyes. The excitement of the team as their rocket gently lands itself back on the ground brings tears to my eyes. The project was extremely technical and they had failed numerous times before, yet they kept with it and endured.

Watching this emotional scene, instantly made me think of teachers in our area. They have an extremely hard task of educating children who have many different roadblocks in front of them from family poverty to language barriers and immigration struggles. How do we come alongside schools and help inspire teachers toward greatness? How do we communicate that teachers aren’t alone and that a community is behind them and supporting them with needed resources?

This year we are deeply committed to deepening our investment in our local schools and teachers with the goal of helping all children succeed from cradle to career. And I’m dreaming of ways that we can inspire, celebrate and publicly honor the hard work of our local teachers.