Parents of the HS Class of 2016 (Part 1)

I haven’t been around for quite awhile, but wanted to say hello. D has been home since Dec.5 and goes back on Jan. 3. She is thriving at her tiny HBCU and has made some wonderful friends (including her roommate since she started college) and has spent much time talking, texting and Facetiming them during break. She’s working in her dad’s department filling in for people on vacation. I’ve noticed a shift in her talking to me about things-there are signals when it’s about something “deep” (like last night at midnight, yawn) and other times she just wants me to listen. Like some of your kids she is applying to summer programs and deciding about post-college life. For now she will probably start with teaching…somewhere, and going for her first master’s after a year or two. She has decided not to stay in her college state, but does not plan to return home, either.

And @ChicagoSportsFn as the mom a a very driven, successful D, as yours seems to be, try letting loose the reins a bit. They know far more about what they need to do than we do, and honestly, that level of involvement can backfire. But good luck to your D, she seems to have great prospects.

Hi there, @sseamom. Great to see you here. It’s been a while for many of us.

It seems so easy to think of everyone’s young person(s) heading out to college, and all of us consulting with each other, exchanging little bits and pieces of their progress, mindset, direction they’re headed, bags used to tote their stuff and where to get that bag. Heady times.

Glad to hear your daughter is still blazing a path forward in her way. I imagine

Summer plans have always been a bit stressful here, but my girl has found her stride, her pulse and her “push”. She has found success with some endeavors, which feed her courage to put her name in the hat for some others. She has realized, developed and incorporated some passions into her everyday life and we wonder if she will ever be able to work a desk job. Maybe, she says, she can meld these things into something that allows her to work in her field and (my wording now) run and hike through the fields. She’s got time.

DS was offered an internship today! He still needs the details but having this settled so early would be awesome.

Awesome news, indeed!

Good luck @Cheeringsection

Thank you @Waiting2exhale and @carolinamom2boys ! I hope all have good news to share about summer plans long before the semester ends.

@ChicagoSportsFn
I understand where you are coming from because my d is also pre-med. IMHO, there simply is no room for any errors before applying to med school. In today’s times. the acceptance rate compares to acceptance to an Ivy league school.I offer my assistance in doing research on what classes will best prepare my d for the MCAT or the med school curriculum. However, she frequently asks me my opinion on this stuff and then I do research to get the answers . My professional work has involved research and I am very thorough and enjoy it- so I don’t mind. In the end, I don’t give her my opinion, I just tell her the info I have found. Sometimes the info is conflicting and it is hers to do with as she pleases in her decision-making process. We believe she is mildly ADHD like me, so I also give her pointers on staying organised and methods that make life easier for ADHD ppl. I learned a lot about ADHD when my son was Dx with moderate to severe ADHD and we needed to structure things to help him succeed. I think college is particularly difficult for ADHD because of the lack of consistent daily schedule.

We drop our S off at McDaniel tomorrow. Here’s hoping for a better result this time; with the amount of support he’ll be getting, that should happen. Also, the bar is set pretty low at this point with the results from his first attempt.

Younger brother had a very successful first semester at Ithaca, with better grades than he ever had in HS, MS, or elementary school.

@mstomper

Fingers crossed your DS does well at McDaniel.

Good luck to your son @mstomper

Hoping for great things at McDaniel @mstomper !

Thanks, everyone. He’s upstairs taking the Spanish placement test now. He hasn’t taken Spanish since 8th grade (he took 3 years of high school Spanish in middle school), but he thinks he can test out of the first semester. We do have a large Spanish speaking population in our neighborhood, and there are a lot of signs in Spanish. We made salmon and asparagus for his last meal here before leaving. He makes really good asparagus, with red pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice. My wife tried his recipe a couple of weeks ago and said it wasn’t quite right. He admitted to me that he uses the “dash of this, pinch of that” approach.

Our S is nearing completion of his internship search for summer of 2019. Two firm offers in hand, but he’s waiting on a decision from a third company before he makes his final choice. Fun to see what happens…

Hi, all. I can’t believe our kids are halfway through junior year! My S continues to share as little as possible (lol) but my other two older kids make up for it. S finally had success near the end of last semester in finding a campus job. On the heels of that, he attended an info session about summer internships in his field, applied, and was offered one, so he is set for summer. I cried like a baby when I dropped him off two weeks ago. He will hopefully be home for spring break, but I think the realization has sunk in that he won’t be home for a summer again. The other two are long gone, so he has been the kid I see the most.

@mstomper - Great progress! Wishing your son the best!

Count me among the well wishers @mstomper! Hoping your son has a terrific semester!

Well, our sons search for summer internship 2019 is over. Looks like he’s in for a fun summer.

After a week home, our S returns to campus today. Monday will be start of his last quarter as a junior year student. How time flies! We’re so proud at how he’s grown…

@mstomper Hope things are going well at McDaniel!

My “slow launch” kid is transferring this fall to the local directional (from the CC) and changing majors from graphic design to geology and physics. This of course means that, in addition to her year off, she’ll have at least three years instead of two ahead.

You know what? I don’t care. They get there when they get there. It’s all good.

@petrichor11, he seems to be doing well. One thing that is very different is that he talks about the future; internships, classes that he will take, ect. Friends of ours in the Chicago area recently said we should come visit. He said that we should do it this summer because he and his brother would probably be doing summer internships next summer. Yep, as long as they make it.