GUEST EDITORIAL - As if our third disrupted school year is not challenging enough, the universe delivered a powerful blow to Madera South High School and our entire community. Toward the end of the summer, we learned one of our most beloved and trusted teacher-leaders had fallen ill. Many of us tried to follow his progress with worry and prayers. Sunday night, after a valiant battle to return to his wife, grown children, students, and work-family, Mark Lohuis passed on. For those of us who knew him well, the word "mentor" fails to capture what he inspired. Mark was a moral compass in our lives and his sense of professional ethics was powerful and dignified. To many of us, Mark's advice was profound and his loyalty was powerful. 

With all he had to give, Mark LOVED Madera South High School and has been an essential pillar of Stallion Pride since the school's founding. He believed in the underserved and underappreciated who needed us most. Mark believed in students with a fierce relentlessness you only find in screenplays. The difficult students were his specialty and therefore the specialty of the entire Stallion PE department. Mark challenged us to serve them with devotion informed by his deep faith in God. He believed in high expectations, accountability, self-responsibility, compassion, and above all, redemption. Everyone was worth one more effort and one more expression of goodwill. No task, effort, or gesture was beneath him if it lifted up a student or colleague.  

In the fall of 1992, a very young Coach Schwartz and Coach Lile observed him model his character-driven approach toward student-athletes in Coyote Basketball as his assistants. We learned from a master educator that it was possible to balance love and high expectations for all students while alienating none. As with many of us who Mark mentored or coached in football, basketball, baseball, or golf, his friendship and inspiration has endured for decades. 

Prayers, love, and expressions of kindness are clearly needed for Coach Lohuis's family as they grieve the loss of such a good man. But please share some prayers for his work family, too. He worried about his colleagues as much as his students and would want us to wrap our arms around them. Properly estimating his importance at MSHS is nearly impossible and his colleagues will be hurting for a long time. Sandon often reminds us, "It's not always about where you work but who you work with that counts." Mark was the example that proves the point. 

This week, take a moment to outwardly express your gratitude to those with whom you work. They are in this experience with you. I am reminded that we are but travelers between life and death and for a time, we luckily travel together. Each day we can make a difference individually. Each year we can change the community TOGETHER. Mark taught us a sense of sacrifice for the team's mission. We will remember him and complete the mission. 

Todd Lile
Superenendant