Good morning. My name is Mark Groenewold and I am very glad to talk to you today. I want to say hello and welcome to the new students of Otemae. I am happy to see you and I hope you are very happy in your new school. For me, I have been a teacher for Otemae for about ten years. I really like this school. I like the teachers here. I like the founders of this school. I also like the students here very much.

I think that I am very lucky to be at Otemae. I have learned many things here. I have met some wonderful people here. I have had many chances to grow here. I think that you will have some great experiences here too.

But coming to a new school can be very hard. Maybe when you came here you felt very nervous. Maybe you felt like it was a little scary. Maybe you worried that everything is so hard. Maybe you worried that you could not find friends here. I hope that you now feel better and I hope that you are glad and happy to come to this school.

Otemae is a unique school. Otemae is a special place. You will learn more and more about why it is a great thing that you are here. The first thing is that you will get a very good education here. The teachers of this school are very professional. They are great teachers and coaches. The teachers work very hard here, and they work for you. They want you to have a great dream, and they want to help you to catch your dream. Your teachers and coaches work late every night. They wake up early every morning. They support and help students on weekends. They coach clubs. They give extra lessons and support you every way they can. It is really amazing how tough your teachers are. Please be nice to them.

Otemae has great leadership. This school is a place to help you develop and grow. This is a place where leaders and professionals learn and later go to university. You are going to learn many things in your classes, and you are also going to learn about how to work in a group. You will learn how to communicate with other people. You will learn about making good relationships and friendships.

But there is one thing that I always love about Otemae and it is that at this school there is a strong feeling of SERVICE. Your teachers work hard because they want to be helpers for your future. They serve your future. The leaders of this school make a strong team, and they work very hard to serve the school. They also serve your future. You will see that everything here at Otemae is to help you learn something and grow.

And there is something about this kind of service you need to think about. There is a question you must ask your own heart. How are you of service to other people? How do you help another person? What is your job? What is your responsibility?

Are you a good friend? Are you a good sister? Are you a good brother? Are you a good teammate? Are you good to your family? Are you good to people who live near your house? Are you a helper? Do you help someone who needs you? How do you serve the people around you?

If I can serve you, if you can serve your friends and classmates, if your teachers serve you, and you serve your team, we can make a place where we can be together and grow. We can make a community. We can make a good society. And this good community and good society has a name. It is called Otemae.

Thank you very much and have a great day.