History teacher Brad Anderson is known best at FHC for his wild class games, intense mock trials, inspirational speeches, and, possibly the most crucial tradition in his repertoire, his Monday Motivation. 

As many people know, Anderson has held firm in his adherence to having a motivational beginning to every week of school. 

“Monday motivation is something that I’ve been doing for over a dozen years,” Anderson said. “The idea is to ease into the week. It’s a formal start to the week, and it’s a nice tradition so that students know that they’re not going straight into a lecture or work or what have you. There’s a bit of time to calibrate with an inspirational video, or hear a quote, or do something that will hopefully lift their spirits for the day and the week ahead.”

Especially being an AP class, Anderson believes that keeping the students he sees every day happy is an integral part of being a teacher.

Anderson understands the importance of keeping his students happy in any given circumstance, and it has helped him to become closer to them as people.

“I think [Monday Motivation] lifts everybody’s mood,” Anderson explained. “They can walk into class and know that they’re going to watch something fun, like the ten-minute installments of Rocky earlier in the year, or something with an uplifting message. It’s a really nice way to say, ‘for ten minutes, we’re going to loosen up and enjoy the moment, and then we can move on with our week,’ instead of just pedal-to-the-metal, hammering down. It gives them a way to ease into the week with a positive message.”

With a teacher like Anderson maintaining his methods to keep motivation for the week, many students look forward to starting the new week on a happy note, including junior Maggie Schimeck. 

For Maggie, the highlight of many people’s least favorite day of the week is walking into Anderson’s classroom knowing that she can get a break from stress for a moment.

“I always look forward to motivation Mondays,” Maggie said. “The minute I walk into fifth hour AP World History on a Monday, I know it’s going to be a good day. Most of my classes are just projects now, but [staying motivated] is a huge thing for me.”

Luckily for Maggie, she is given this outlet in certain classes, like Anderson’s. As almost any student could attest, school gets hard; but, with the correct resources, it can become easier to handle over time. 

In the long run, staying motivated is majorly impactful for anybody. It’s something that is often taken for granted, but it is incredibly important in the lives of high school students in today’s day and age.

“It’s important to stay motivated so that your grade doesn’t plummet,” Maggie said. “If you want to get into a good college, then your grades need to be higher, you need to get better scores on the national tests, and all of that stuff. It’s also good so that you don’t get burned out over time.”

Similarly to Maggie, sophomore Nolan Breckon finds his own ways to stay motivated through school. 

As many people tend to do, he focuses on a goal for his future: his dream school.

“I stay motivated by [thinking about] my dream school,” Nolan said. “I want to go to Florida Atlantic University to swim there. [Motivation] is usually kind of a me-thing, but it’s become a lot easier over time. [Personally,] my biggest source of motivation is the idea of my dream school.”

Nolan also understands the importance of staying motivated and enthusiastic throughout the school year, and he does his best to ensure that he gets there. 

For some, staying motivated becomes easier over time, and for others, it does the opposite. Nolan fits in with the former, keeping somewhat of a positive mindset even toward the end of the year.

“It’s become easier throughout the year,” Nolan said. “Knowing that you have a certain amount of weeks left really helps it become easier and easier. Once you get to exam week, you’re done, and that’s nice. It’s really important to make sure you don’t get into a slump or fall behind because then it’s harder to get caught back up.”

While nearing the end of the year, it would be understandable to lose motivation. Senioritis may already seem to be setting in, despite this year’s seniors being gone. Either way, motivation is a vital component of any aspect of life for high school students. 

“It’s tough,” Anderson explained. “Right now, it’s seventy-five degrees outside, and everybody wants it to be summer. Teachers love summertime as much as students, but we still need to stay engaged. We still have some boxes left to check, there are still exams coming up in some classes, and we still have standards to meet. Plus, it’s a requirement, so we need to do the best we can with the time we have left, and hopefully, we can stay engaged and stay motivated until the end of the year.”