Yesterday morning, Ania and Kayla were standing side by side at CEO. Ten hours later, they were standing on opposite sides of the volleyball net.

Ania plays for Mascoutah. Kayla plays for O’Fallon. They are proud of their schools, their teams and the communities they represent.

But when they walk into CEO each morning, those school identities stay outside our doors. No school logos. No school sweatshirts. No Mascoutah, O’Fallon, Freeburg or Lebanon.

For 90 minutes each morning, there are just 22 students from four different schools. We ask them to get to know each other, support each other and become one team and one family.

And then at 8:30 a.m., they walk out our doors and become Mascoutah Indians, O’Fallon Panthers, Freeburg Midgets and Lebanon Greyhounds again.

Last night, that meant Ania and Kayla found themselves on opposite sides of the volleyball net.

They both wanted to win. They both played hard. And they both represented their schools well.

But when the match was over, there they were again, standing side by side.

Still proud of their schools. Still proud to be part of Silver Creek Area CEO. And still friends.

That is one of the unexpected gifts of bringing students from four different schools together. They don’t have to give up who they are or where they come from to become part of something bigger. They can compete against each other, cheer for each other and genuinely care about each other.

Yesterday morning, they were CEO classmates. Last night, they were competitors. And after the final whistle, they were friends again.

I’m so glad I got to watch this one from the sidelines.