<p>mihcal - that is a great system for picking graduation speakers! </p>
<p>sunnydayfun - Yes, I can see why Texas’s policy on auto admission makes ranking necessary and scrambling for GPA really important. It’s a shame - a lot of the things students are sacrificing to game the GPA are beneficial in many ways. </p>
<p>My middle son (HS senior now) gave up band entering 9th grade, which made me really sad. It was a combination of not having enough time to do everything he wanted and honestly, the band program at our school isn’t what I consider a great program. Granted, they win contests and put on a great concerts a couple times a year, but in my opinion their emphasis on spending the entire year polishing their contests pieces takes away from real music education AND fun. In general, the band program just isn’t that much fun, even if they spend a lot of time telling parents it’s the best music program in the state. </p>
<p>My 2015 S switched from band to choir entering high school because the choir program “rocks” according to him. They do a great job but also have a lot of fun and camaraderie with the teachers. And no lugging an instrument around. ;)</p>
<p>michal, that’s roughly how the Val was selected at my high school many years ago. I think it was a combination of 1/3 grades, 1/3 choice by teachers (who graded the speeches that were submitted anonymously) and 1/3 vote of the seniors after those in contention gave the speech in front of the class. Giving that speech to my fellow seniors set off a life-long fear of public speaking in me. My knees began shaking, causing my entire body to shake. I stopped halfway through to ask a teacher if I could sit down for the rest of it - nope. OY! It was rough.</p>
<p>My daughter is dropping symphony this year but sticking with choir. There’s no room in her schedule for both (they are both regular classes during the school day) and I am supportive of her choice, but boy I’m sad to see her give up playing an instrument that she has been playing since 4th grade. She’s got enough honors/AP classes on tap that I think her GPA hit won’t matter much, and even if it did, I want her to stay with it because she loves it so much.</p>
<p>We are on block schedule an it really hits the kids hard that are involved in the Arts. To take a band class every semester would mean that 1/4 of their high school classes would be band. D1 was a flute player and made District honor band every year since 7th grade. Never took a band class in high school- made me sad. She was very philosophical about it, her thought were high school is about making choices and she choose to pursue a more academic route. Still was in marching band and one year took zero block band before school started.Her flute is in her room, left behind when she went to college. I am hopeful as she gets older she may start playing again for fun/relaxation. D2 was done with band at the end of middle school, much to my dismay. I love band kids!</p>
<p>Our school only ranks top 10 ( published in Baccalaureate brochure) and top 10% have a cord to wear at graduation and graduate first. Val and Sal make speeches. D1 was Val and I was surprised at how little guidance she was given. Administration never read her speech prior to the ceremony. She ran it by one or two of her fav teachers. Guess they trusted her- but wow!</p>
<p>Add me to the list of parents who are sad because kids give up instruments. I hear you. S1 chose football instead of band when he entered 9th grade. Through out his middle school, he was usually 1st or 2nd chair in band, all region, and all city clarinet player. I asked him not to give up band. He said to me you are the one wants me to do band but that is NOT what I WANT! I remember I was sad and depressed for days.</p>
<p>He plays piano too and there is a grand piano downstairs in his dorm but I don’t think he uses it. We already sold his clarinet and he plays guitar for relaxation now in college and seems to enjoy it more than clarinet.</p>
<p>hi all - i have a 2012 S and I thought I would post some of the fully-funded programs I, and S, have discovered over the years. (Some I wish we had found much earlier!) These programs involve travel and I find them all fascinating.</p>
<p>My DD (violin and piano player) takes all academic classes at HS but is in the Youth State Symphony. Tonight she performed with the US Air Force Wind Quintet and it was an awesome show!
Before she joined this HS we attended several orchestra concerts and came to the (sad) conclusion, that to do orchestra at this school would be a huge waste of her time. For her sophomore year she thought about joining one of the top choirs, but the teacher demands that choir kids attend two choirs, both being during regular school hours - taking two class periods away from the IB schedule - she decided against it. So it will be AP Bio and AP Economy instead of singing, which is sad…</p>
<p>OK -as far as testing goes, she takes AP Stats this year, so should be prepping for an AP exam. She is also in the pre-calc class, so I am looking at the SAT Math II for her this June.
She has an older brother who is a math whiz, took SAT Math II after 8th grade and scored 800, and I know she will compare herself to him…I will give her some older test and see how she does. There is not going to be a better time to take it than this summer…</p>
<p>^^^ If you’re D is taking AP Stats and Pre-Calc as a freshman, she qualifies as a math whiz too. :-)</p>
<p>A heads-up: SAT exams taken prior to starting HS might not be accepted by colleges. I’m not sure whether this applies to subject exams as well as the regular SAT. But, when the time comes, check with the specific colleges you’re considering to verify their policies.</p>
<p>I’m joining the ranks. Have a freshman DD2019, been here a few years ago with my older DD2013. Ready to begin again, learned so much going through it with older DD.</p>
<p>Welcome JerseyShoreMom! So you have a college junior also? I’ll bet your younger D misses her. I feel sorry for my youngest - he’ll be stuck here with just H and me when our middle son heads off to college next year. They weren’t even all that close until this year but I think he’ll really miss his brother.</p>
<p>Our high school’s third quarter ends this week so the home stretch is in sight. I dont’ think S is going to do anything real exciting this summer. Sleep late, play his guitar a lot, and maybe take an online math course. :)</p>
<p>It’s so nice to see 2012’ers here. I lurk on your thread sometimes and that seems like a nice group as well. And welcome JSM!</p>
<p>D’s summer plans are still up in the air. She’ll have to take a PE class, and she’s going to do a bit of volunteering. She may have to take Health over the summer too. She was taking Health online this semester, but had a mishap (I’m being charitable). The coursework comes out in “modules” at 3-week intervals, and each module closes on a Saturday night at midnight. If you don’t submit it on time, you fail the entire module. You know where this is going - she had done almost all the work except for one piece, and she forgot about it until last Sunday morning. That’s a big fat F that, at best (perfect scores for the rest of the semester), would have left her with a B+ for the semester. So she dropped it, and now is going to have to find the time to make the class up.</p>
<p>Kelowna – You need to do your due diligence for your S. He’s a Jr, right? MIT will absolutely accept the Math II taken in 8th grade (if you save the scores, CB tests taken before 9th are automatically deleted in June of each year unless you request in writing that they be saved). Other schools will NOT accept SAT II scores taken prior to high school.</p>
<p>I learned this because my D’12 took 2 of her 3 SAT Subject exams in the spring of her 9th grade year and her GC warned us that she’d need to re-take the exams since they were taken so early. So early this fall I got on the phone with the admissions offices for every school that was even tentatively on her list. ALL of the schools that required SAT Subject tests would accept test sat in 9th grade (though they thought the scores would be higher later in HS – not likely in D’s particular case). They all ALSO said that they would not accept tests from before 9th grade. I must have called 20 schools.</p>
<p>Waving to JerseyShoreMom, and to the newly-joined 2012’ers.</p>
<p>My D2015 and D2012 have become very close this year. It’s the first time since preschool that they’ve both been at the same school, on the same schedule. They’ve even managed lunch together once or twice. I’m sure D2015 will be sad when her sister leaves for college.</p>
<p>Whoa - congrats ohiobassmom! I missed that your S has made a final decision! What a great feeling.</p>
<p>suzy100 - bummer about the online health class! Those can be very hard to keep track of. I’m glad she could drop it. </p>
<p>Anyone here with theater kids? My son’s rehearsing for Les Mis right now and having a blast. What a nice group of kids our theater department seems to have. Older son is just barely tolerating the show tunes being hummed around the house every day.</p>
She’s got enough honors/AP classes on tap that I think her GPA hit won’t matter much, and even if it did, I want her to stay with it because she loves it so much.</p>
This is a lovely group.</p>