In a school of roughly a thousand students, connection cannot always wait for a formal program. Sometimes it looks like sitting down at lunch, handing over a controller, and giving a student a few uninterrupted minutes of your attention.
The game is not really the point. The point is that the student gets to be known outside of an academic concern or a trip to the office. We talk, we laugh, and I am routinely reminded that being an experienced school leader offers absolutely no protection from losing to a ten-year-old.
These are small moments, but small moments accumulate. They make a big school feel more personal, one conversation and one humbling race at a time.
