Written by Cameron Willis
The “Pride, Passion, and Purpose” sign down at the rink means a lot to the Boys’ Varsity Team at Upland Country Day School. The sign signals the three main mottos of our team. We must keep these thoughts/mottos in our heads as we go down to the rink for practice, as we prepare for games, or even a school trip (hockey or educational). Pride, Passion, and Purpose are important parts of life at Upland and can drive people to the right thing in many circumstances.
I’ve been a student at Upland for two and a half years now and something like a sign has never been included in Upland’s program. In the beginning of the year when Coach Ben Weston came to school and introduced himself along with his goals for the season, these three P’s are all we talked about for half of his time with us. He always says that “everything is everything” and to me these three P’s exemplify that very well.
We must always show pride in our everyday lives. What is pride? Pride is showing that you care about what you are doing. You aren’t just doing it half-way or not your best job. Pride means to keep in the back of your head that this is for someone else and they trust me to do this. Now let’s move onto passion. Passion is the feeling of gratefulness and happiness that you get to do what you do. Passion is the fact of constantly trying to get better at what you do and sometimes that may require sacrifice. Last but not least, let’s move onto purpose. Purpose is having an intent when doing something. Purpose is finishing a move in hockey, finishing a homework assignment (with care), or even finishing work at a job in real life. Purpose isn’t pinned down to just three things. It can be displayed anywhere, whether helping a person get across the street or warming up before a hockey game.
The three P’s have a lot in common. These words can overlap in our everyday lives. For me, because I play hockey, it can be wanting to do well in a hockey game, both for your team and yourself. This example represents the overlap of all three P’s. It exemplifies pride because you’re wearing your team’s jersey and representing your program. You create the path for the future and wearing your team’s jersey is one of the most important pride examples I can think of. This scenario also represents passion because it displays that you want to do good and want to compete at a high level because of your love for the game. Finally, this scenario represents purpose because of the desire to do well and get better at what you’re doing.
This isn’t just some sign that we look at every day. The Boys’ Varsity Team at Upland has a system where when you display all of these traits consistently, you get to write your name on this sign. This is a high honor on the team. If you are able to achieve this, our coach calls it out and everyone appreciates what you’ve done to earn this. I’ve seen many forward strides from both myself and my teammates. Many people have become more involved in Upland’s way/tradition in order to try to achieve this honor.
As you can tell now, “Pride, Passion, and Purpose” isn’t just some sign made out of cardboard. This sign means a lot to our team and helps us strive to be our better selves. It not only has an impact on our lives down at the rink, but also has an impact on our lives inside and outside of school. As the Olympic sprinter Donovan Bailey once said, “Follow your passion, be prepared to work hard and sacrifice, and, above all, don’t let anyone limit your dreams.” I will use both this quote along with our three goals even in life after Upland. Because these three ideas aren’t just resigned to Upland. They need to be spread throughout the whole world.
