The following was written on Wednesday, May 3 by James Hopkins, assistant principal at Carrboro High.
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This afternoon Secretary John Kerry spoke to a room full of students, teachers, parents and other spectators. Teacher Matt Cone spent months emailing Secretary Kerry's office after he agreed to Skype during a conference they both attended. Finally, with the help of letters from his students and some Chapel Hill Toffee, he scored this afternoon's 34-minute Skype session.
After some friendly banter about Duke-Carolina basketball, several fantastic questions from the students and very thoughtful answers by Secretary Kerry, the biggest take away for me, in a room full of high school aged students, was when Secretary Kerry shared these words:
"There is nothing more rewarding than the political fight...and you really can change peoples minds, I promise you, you can."
I believe those words to be true - even when they don't feel like it at times.
Secretary Kerry applauded the letters the students wrote, along with persistence of Mr. Cone. He closed the session by saying:
"You really are exceptional, and I think you are going to make a terrific difference"
Just another day at Carrboro High School...