Parents of the Class of 2019

[bjscheel]

Did anyone else's DD or DS wait until May 1st to pull the acceptance and deposit trigger?? As of 1:30am, DD hit the accept button. She's going to STANFORD!!!!!!!!!!!

I meant to congratulate you on this and see I hadn't yet. That's amazing! And even though I know almost nothing about it, I think Rice sounds great. She had some awesome choices.

She has to wear a white dress for graduation and refuses to go shopping for something she'll never wear again so my mother just ordered one and is sending it-DD is much more reasonable with my mom than with me! I haven't even begun to debate what she'll wear to convocation. She wore her go-to black dress already for the county academic award ceremony so it will have to be something else. I'm really ready for all of this to be over.

DD has a graduation dress. It was the first one she tried on from a store she loves. Then someone told her she looked like a 12 year old girl in it but I pointed out a friend had a similar one on at the band concert so it's a fine style. Hopefully there will be no more issue. (She'll look like a 12 year old girl in most things- she still gets asked her age at theaters and buffets. The new blouse she's wearing to music contest today came from the girls' department. I should probably cut out the size tag before she notices.)

There's also Senior Recognition Night, Baccalaureate, and last concert to dress up for in the next couple weeks but she ought to be able to find something in her closet. We actually hit a small jackpot, including three dresses, at the thrift this week which may help.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I meant to congratulate you on this and see I hadn't yet. That's amazing! And even though I know almost nothing about it, I think Rice sounds great. She had some awesome choices.



DD has a graduation dress. It was the first one she tried on from a store she loves. Then someone told her she looked like a 12 year old girl in it but I pointed out a friend had a similar one on at the band concert so it's a fine style. Hopefully there will be no more issue. (She'll look like a 12 year old girl in most things- she still gets asked her age at theaters and buffets. The new blouse she's wearing to music contest today came from the girls' department. I should probably cut out the size tag before she notices.)

I have always been small and (used to) look a lot younger than I was. I went on a mission trip when I was 25 and married with a 2-yo. We got to one of our worksites, and the person in charge took me and our group leader aside and said I couldn't stay because you had to be at least 16 for that worksite! Our leader told him I was quite a bit older than I looked and he had known me since I was a baby, but they insisted on seeing my ID.

 

[mom2rtk]

Well, prom is in the rear view mirror. 2 weeks of regular classes. 3 weeks until graduation. This is going way too fast.

Senior Prom by mom2rtk, on Flickr

 

[portocall]

My DS finished high school Friday. He doesn't have to go this week for senior exams since he carried A's for the year. Graduation is in two weeks.

He was accepted into campus housing which is a relief. UNO is a small college so dorm space is limited. He can't wait to start college.

 

[bjscheel]

Well, prom is in the rear view mirror. 2 weeks of regular classes. 3 weeks until graduation. This is going way too fast.

Senior Prom by mom2rtk, on Flickr

So pretty! Love that color!

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

DD has 2 weeks of school left, AP tests this week and next, but our seniors don't have finals, so no other tests. She has Sr. checkout on the 17th, and the banquet is on the 16th. Graduation is the 24th, so less than 3 weeks away!

 

[design_mom]

Big day here and DS is majorly stressing out. (When he's stressed/anxious, he becomes very irritable.)

Today is his AP Physics 1 test. He's done well in the class, but it hasn't been easy. And he found out that last year's AP Physics 1 test did not have a high pass rate, even for kids who did well. We have talked about it: "You can only do your best." and then we'll see what happens. However, it's a little bit higher stakes because it's the only "hard science" AP class he's taken. If he passes, he'll fulfill his 'science' gen ed requirement. If he doesn't pass, he'll have to take one at the university.

Also, tonight is the senior awards banquet (invitation only). We got the invitation at least a month ago, and they had a "practice" for it at school. You had to let the school know if you were planning to participate/attend, and we said we were. It was not a problem until this morning. Suddenly, he doesn't want to go. It's stupid and pointless, blah, blah. He's claiming to be anxious about going to it (and he has had some issues with anxiety.)

His "reasons" don't seem very good to me, especially at the 11th hour after we've already committed to going. If he'd said he didn't want to go when we got the invite, or when he had the practice... but suddenly at 6:30 this morning it was a HUGE deal. The gist seems to be that:
-- he's embarrassed that his award level isn't higher (He didn't work hard freshman and sophomore years. He's done great junior/senior year. He's currently listed as cum laude, thinks he'll be magna cum laude after senior year grades are finalized, realizes he could have been summa cum laude if he'd worked hard all 4 years.) He's focusing on past mistakes rather than appreciating what he's accomplished.
-- they are apparently seating kids by their award group. DS will be in the cum laude section and most of his friends will be in the summa section. He got in with a group of high-achieiving kids and I think they were instrumental in his academic turnaround. DS did *not* want to be the "stupid one" in the group. I can't imagine that any of them would rub it in his face (they're nice kids) but he's going to *feel* like the stupid one sitting in cum laude while they're all in summa cum laude.
-- He has worked really hard senior year but senior year grades (even first semeter ones) are not factored in. His counselor said they will recalculate GPA after all senior grades have been turned in and will "upgrade him," if appropriate, for the actual graduation ceremony, but for the purpose of this awards presentation, it's freshmen-junior grades only. He wants "credit" for this year... and it sounds like he'll get it, but not tonight.

DH and I are kind of split on how to handle this:
DH thinks that DS is under quite a bit of stress surrounding graduation. I think he could be right (he is not excited about the end-of-year festivities, etc.) DH says "if it's making him anxious, why add stress. It's just a stupid award ceremony."

On the other hand, I think he should go. He made a commitment. He's in the program. They've reaserved a seat for him. And I think it would set a TERRIBLE precedent to say "if it makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to do it" to something like this. (And quite frankly, I have anxiety. I can't tell you how many times I've happily accepted an invitation when it arrived, then practically made myself sick with worry when it's time to actually go. If I didn't get myself out the door out of a sense of obligation, I'd probably never go anywhere/do anything... but things are usually fine once I'm there. Walking into any event is the "worst" part.)

Edited to add: And I'm not REALLY sure what the true issue is. It could be that he doesn't want to go to the awards ceremony. It could also be that he's worried about the Physics test. (Sometimes if he's anxious about something he can't control, he will hyperfocus on something else.) Or it could be something else entirely!

So... DS is in the physics test now... and the last thing he texted me was "OK, I'll go tonight... but I'll hate it." So I think we're going tonight, but... sigh...

 

[Lynne G]

Hugs, Design_Mom. I am glad he did decide to go. Yeah, with stubborn, and anxious, know that. My DS can be too. And he's 21 going on 22. Best to just let him vent. I find my DS tends to calm down, after some time, and usually also does what he's expected to do. And good for your DS to turn things around, and graduate with honors. I hope the banquet goes well, and all enjoys the food and others.

 

[soccerdad72]

Good luck to your son today - our son chose not to take the AP Physics exam. He took AP Physics (and Honors Physics last year), but opted to not take the exam, saying even if he scored well, it wasn't going to get him any credit at college. Apparently, it's one of the hardest AP Exams there is.

 

[PollyannaMom]

@design_mom - it's so hard to watch them struggle with something! But look at it this way: If he goes, and doesn't have fun, he'll regret it the next day and then forget about it. If he doesn't go and wishes he had, he'll regret it longer.

 

[Eureka]

Good luck to your son today - our son chose not to take the AP Physics exam. He took AP Physics (and Honors Physics last year), but opted to not take the exam, saying even if he scored well, it wasn't going to get him any credit at college. Apparently, it's one of the hardest AP Exams there is.

Yeah, my DS took AP Physics last year and did not take the exam. He struggled with the class but even those who got As in the class only got 1 and 2s. He took AP Gov test yesterday and said it was easy (and this is what he's going to be studying, so I would hope so). AP Lit is tomorrow and Stats is next week, I forget when.

My DS16 took the environmental sci test yesterday and said there was a lot on it he'd never seen before. It was that way with DS18 too when he took it (and didn't do well on that test), sigh. Wish the teacher would at least try to cover it, you know? DS16 is waiting for his "big boy" test as he calls it, later this week, AP US History, or as we call it APUSH. He LOVES that class and even DS18 is kind of regretting not having taken it (he took honors but did take AP World last year).

Good luck to everyone's AP testers these next couple of weeks!

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

@design_mom, glad he decided to go. I would say that he's really stressing about the exam, and instead focusing on the banquet because it's something he can control.

DD is also taking her AP Physics exam today, she had AP Gov yesterday and the other 2 next week. Then she's done!

She did go in and fill out her online profile for the housing portal, the window to chose roommates and get housing determined is on 5/15, so it's good that she's working on that one. Of course that's because I looked up the dates!

 

[design_mom]

He's finished with the AP Physics. He said it went better than he feared and he thinks he passed... but I guess we'll find out in July. << He said that when he first got home. Now he's talking to some other people from his class who are less confident that they did well, so now DS is questioning his impressions.

He took AP Gov yesterday and agreed with Eureka's son's assessment. Easy.
Next week he has AP Language and Composition (took AP Lit last year).
And next week he also has AP World History.

If he passes AP Physics and AP World history, he'll knock out 2 more "categories" of general education requirements. If he passes Lang and Gov, he'll get "credit" but it won't satisfy any requirements because he already has enough credit in those categories. (For example, for the English gen ed requirement, you need to take one 3-credit hour class. AP Language maps to a class that will satisfy the requirement. and AP Lit maps to a different class that also satisfies it. He'll get credit for both classes but only "needs" one.)

 

[lovesdumbo]

My DD(2017) took AP Physics-her teacher said it was one of the toughest exams. She scored high enough for credit but since it is the basis for her field, Meteorology, she opted to take it over in college.

DS(2019) is taking AP Economics-seems like most kids in our school score very well on the exam-not sure if its easy or if the teacher does a great job teacher. DS who doesn't tend to test well thinks he's very prepared for the exam.

 

[soccerdad72]

Next week is my son's only AP exam for this year - AP Calc BC. He scored a 3 on last year's AB exam, so he's hopeful for at least a 3 this time. He's planning on taking Calc 2 in college, so he doesn't jump right into Calc 3 without having college calc, but he doesn't want to have to take Calc 1 for, essentially, his third year in a row.

And his college has mentioned that his other AP tests could earn him credit in a non-major course (e.g. core course), so he's hoping his Comp Sci tests at least get him credit for something else (like a liberal arts requirement). And we'd love it if we could pay for one less class too

 

[Gumbo4x4]

DD is putting her class schedule together. She requested college algebra, but ended up in pre-calc instead. The good news is one semester of math satisfies her degree requirements

 

[design_mom]

We are back from the awards ceremony. It was a nice ceremony... and they *did* announce that the awards were not based on final grades, and they would be adjusted prior to graduation if appropriate. DS smiled, shook the principal's hand, let him put the honor cord around his neck... then promptly took it off as soon as he left the stage. Sigh.

 

[Colleen27]

I felt so bad for the juniors and seniors taking the AP Gov. exam this year - it was the morning after prom!

DD has reached a no-stress point with her AP tests. She wants to do well, of course, but there's really no stakes in terms of her college experience. Freshman seminar for Japanese majors satisfies the same gen ed requirement as AP Lit, she'll be taking her intro-level bio course no matter how well she scores on the AP Bio test because we've been warned that two of the grad schools she's considering don't accept the AP credit as equivalent, and AP Calc checks off the math gen ed but so does the required biostatistics class she needs for her biology/ecology major. She does have a couple of gen-eds checked off by last year's government, language and sociology tests but nothing this year will make a difference. So she's not feeling a ton of pressure about the scores. Which is good, because she's spending most of her study time preparing for the Japanese placement test she has to do sometimes this month. The major requires getting through the equivalent of 8 semesters of Japanese, but placement can substitute for the first two years, depending on the score. She doesn't think she'll test quite that high after almost a year of not practicing every day, but having taken a year of college Japanese myself, I'm pretty sure she can place into 3rd or 4th semester without much trouble.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

DD is signed up for orientation in July, that's where she'll pick her courses. Her AP test yesterday she said went pretty well, and we were looking over the conversion chart for UMASS on what AP credits can be used for what requirements. UMASS accepts up to 30 AP credits, and maps those to gen ed requirements in a table. With the AP credits, the credit she has for science due to her biotech class, the Physics credit due to dual enrollment, and the science credit from UA-Huntsville for advanced space academy, she will start her freshman year basically as a first year sophomore. UMASS also has a 5 year masters program so she may come out of her 4 years of college with a bachelors and masters degree!

In other news, school was locked down yesterday. We're in Highlands Ranch, CO, so the shooting at the STEM school was in our district. One of DD's coworkers at the rec center is a STEM student, thankfully he was OK, she checked in with him to make sure, and another friend from an old swim team was at the school at the time, in the next classroom but wasn't hurt. I'm keeping that school community in my thoughts.

 

[mjkacmom]

Last night was the SEC athletic scholars awards (2 athletes/scholars from every school in our division, 70 in all). Beautiful venue (actually our prom venue), and every recipient stood and had their stats read. Our county is very diverse, from towns who’s median incomes range from $38,000 to $170,000 (that’s me guessing, some towns could be less, some more). Some kids were first in their class with a 3.4 gpa and 1050 on their SAT’s, others in the top 15% with a 4.6 and 1560 on the SAT’s. The former attending CC, the latter attending Princeton. Dd gave a students reflections speech at the end, which she learned about on Friday, and her coach and AD were there. Tonight is senior night at the track meet, tomorrow is the rotary club dinner where she will receive a scholarship. She is in the process of breaking up with her boyfriend, which has not been easy.