As we enter the holiday season, I’ve taken some time to reflect on the many things I have to be thankful for.

In fact, you can see what I and more than 20 members of the Niles Community Schools family are thankful for on the Niles Community Schools Facebook page, where we’re sharing with #givethanks.

As I reflect, I’m reminded time and time again of the incredible support our students continue to receive from the community. This was reinforced most recently during the high school volleyball team’s journey to the quarterfinals in East Lansing.

During their playoff run, the team gave every ounce of heart and soul to the competition. Scott Novak, sports editor for Leader Publications, put it well when he said, “I have watched a lot of volleyball in my three-plus decades of working at Leader Publications and I cannot remember ever watching a more competitive and exciting match. I take my hat off to not only this volleyball team, but the community of Niles and the students, who turned out in huge numbers Tuesday night to support their Vikings.”

Though the journey ended there for our team, the community support did not. Three buses full of students and community members, more than 150 in total, made the journey to East Lansing for the competition, and has been supporting the team before and since.

It’s only the latest in a long line of examples of the Niles community rallying together to support our students, and I am deeply grateful for it.

Together, we will continue to test the limits of what we and our students can accomplish.

Dan Applegate

Superintendent, Niles Community Schools