Southwest High School – Once a Raider… Always a Raider

WELCOME TO SOUTHWEST HIGH

Raider Reporter

Library Newsletter

Scholarship Info

Principal’s Message

Amazing Raider Families,

“There’s no success without action.” ~John Maxwell~

Happy New Year! I hope that each of you had an amazing break.

During the break, my husband watched the movie Six Triple Eight, a film that showcased the contributions of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-Black and all-female battalion, in World War II. Led by Major Charity Adams, the battalion was finally given orders to turn the school into a post office and barracks and clear a two-year backlog of undelivered mail. The deadline was intended to ensure their failure. After receiving notification that the majority of their efforts in the first two months resulted in undeliverable mail, her troops told her some of the major challenges such as the use of nicknames instead of real names or that the address to which the letters were sent were incorrect because the soldiers had been transferred to other bases or stations or the writing was illeligible. Refusing to give up and realizing the importance of mail reaching either the soldiers or their loved ones, Major Adams abandoned the methods they were using; instead she recognized each individual talents and used that in sorting the mail. For example, one female soldier was very skilled in recognizing perfume. Another soldier was great in geography. Finally, one of the women recognized that on and in the letters, soldiers included symbols that represented the area at where they were stationed thereby giving their families clues as to their locations. Consequently, in using this clue, they were able to sort and send the mail within the six month windows. Success came because Major Adams acted by not accepting defeat; instead, she let go of “normal” mail sorting practice in favor of innovative methods to solve an assignment was doomed to fail. To date, their efforts still remain largely unrecognized. Major Adams was finally recognized as Fort Lee was renamed in her honor. As we start the year, I want to encourage you to look beyond your normal daily habits and embrace new ones so that will help you experience success. Releasing takes courage. Let’s have an amazing Semester 2.

Have a great week!

Easter Finley, Principal