The new school year is now well underway, and we can only say we are encouraged by what we see.

Last Friday we published our annual “Sullivan County’s Official Fall Sports Guide” and we were inspired by what we saw. There were 34 team photos across Sullivan County’s eight school districts – a pretty sizeable number.

What we found more impressive was that nearly 600 student athletes were represented on those teams, something we find even more reassuring. We feel that extracurricular activities – be it sports, band, drama or joining a club – makes a difference in our youth’s education. 

What are the benefits? Improved academic performance is linked to students who get involved. It also gives students a chance to broaden their perspective on life, make new friendships, gain self esteem and learn essential life skills, to name a few.

Most importantly, however, may be the community and family involvement in our students’ lives as we attend sporting events or other school events. Our children – even though they may be young adults – need to know what they are supported and encouraged to do well. There is no substitute for a great high school football game under a crisp fall afternoon to bring the community together.

And on Thursday night we were invited to the Sullivan 180 awards presentation at Bethel Woods.

This event was attended by mostly educators from Sullivan County’s eight school districts, and we learned what each school was doing to promote good nutrition, mental health and physical well-being within each district.

If you don’t know, Sullivan 180 is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping improve our youth’s health outcomes. The evening was filled with testimony from teachers, students and administrators on the importance of improving education to deal with the many pressures students now face. They include building gardens at schools to improve nutrition, building outdoor classrooms and improved dialogue with our kids.

We would like to thank all our coaches, teachers, administrators, Sullivan 180 and the parents who are working so hard to help our youth grow up healthy.

Your job is hard, your days are long, but your work will last a lifetime.

We wanted to let you know that you are appreciated.

Keep up the great work – our kids deserve no less.