The online grades portal for S just updated, and he got an A in Brit Lit!! He was sure his final paper on Hamlet would bring his grade down, but he received a B+ on that keeping the overall grade at an A. That is the best graduation present from him to me. His graduation ceremony was Monday. He is now a HS graduate, and it shows. He is staying up until 3 am and waking at noon. ~X( He is making his me crazy with the slug lifestyle, but this will change after our upcoming graduation trip.
Ask around to see how carefully they check IDs. I got my dad into a college basketball game on my ID. I had 2 tickets. Got a replacement ID that week. I used that one figuring if they were going to scrutinize one more than the other it would be the replacement one. They never really checked at all. Just needed to see a ticket and ID. Some schools may have tougher standards. But you still see a lot of students selling tickets online.
Kids have to âtry outâ to give the two kids speeches at our graduation. Both my kids would have given one if it was based on val/sal. Daughter last night said she is more than happy to have someone else give a speech.
QOTD: Can anyone remember anything about any graduation speech they have heard? I canât. To me, no one is there to hear a speech. They want to hear their kids name read, walk across a stage and accept a diploma. I get that people want to talk. But to me, keep it short.
QOTD: Sorry to be mean, but the only ones who care about the speech are the speech givers families. Everyone else is looking at their watch.
Well that is a bummer. S18 is looking at Bama and has a 1460 SAT, 30 points short of what he needs. Of note, the net price calculator is not updated. Finally the Presidential Scholarship is now a fixed $25k vs, the total tuition and fees it was last year. Probably going to eliminate them from consideration.
As far as football, provided S17 makes the band (he has to audition) which I think is a high probability, I will not have to get him season tickets. I plan to attend 2 or 3 games this season.
@STEM2017 I have a hard time siting thru things like graduations, weddings, church events, sports banquets, etc.
I didnât even bother to go my graduation, and after I attended one friends wedding I never attended another one. I told the rest of my friends to mot invite me to their weddings and I would have the common courtesy to do the same, ha.
Seemed to work out, weâre all still friends, except for the one guy who invited me to go to a wedding where I had to fly and rent a hotel room. Yah, no thanks dude!
Weâve been told weâre not allowed to bring any tablets or computers to Dâs graduation (on top of the no dslr cameras I mentioned upthread). itâs like theyâre trying to torture us. 800 kids, câmonâŠ
Maybe weâll bring a deck of cards :D.
D is super salty about not being allowed to have her purse or her phone on her, either. One more reason sheâs glad to graduate and be free of the HS machine.
I feel so far removed from all this graduation stuff. D did not step foot into the high school this year unless necessary since she was fully dual enrollment and really did not have any close friends there. Most of her friends were from youth group and not high school Spending fall Junior year abroad did not help, as well as her best friend from another high school taking dual enrollment as well so that they could share a class. She did not do Senior breakfast, or anything else. The icing is that she is not attending graduation tomorrow night, because she will be at her favorite place every year, and what she is most passionate about, Camp Jenny, a camp for underprivileged inner city kids.
Of course she is missing her BFâs graduation this Sat as well due to Camp Jenny, and parties that she was invited to. Last weekend she was invited to parties, but was in CA in relationship to an internship with Stand With Us. She also missed her Brothers Confirmation. :(. But its all good. She leaves on June 4th to work all summer at the sleep away camp.
In a way I am sad that she never got a yearbook (but we did take the pics, so she is in there), nor does she even care. My younger one will remain at the HS more than likely, but he is not social, so probably wont have the typical Senior experience as well. I pick up her diploma on Friday. I just hope that one day she doesnt regret not being part of HS. on the other hand I dont have to watch 400+ other kids walk either, and did not have to pay for a cap and gown.
âWalking the Blue Lineâ There is a bit of a tradition with our kidâs elementary school and the 2 local HS. Graduating seniors go back to elementary school one day in the next to last week of the year with their college gear and do something with the younger kids. Mostly just a motivational thing for the younger kids to be inspired by the big kids and also the elementary teachers like seeing how their kids have turned out.
Speeches - My D will be giving a val speech. I havenât heard it yet, but the administration âstrongly suggestedâ the theme, and the speech must be approved by a faculty member. I wonder what is to keep her from having one speech approved, and giving a different speech? She will do a good job (member of the Speech & Debate team), but we are fully aware that nobody really wants to listen to speeches. At least it is short⊠limit 3 minutes.
^That feels like an eternity when youâre standing up there
@sailakeerie QOTD:
I do remember one thing from speakers on each of my graduation days.
At my HS, it was tradition for the salutatorian to give a speech. I remember MH as being a wicked smart and extremely likable guy. He had lost his father at an early age, which obviously gave him a perspective on life most, if not all, of the other graduates that day did not have. His message to us that day was to âBe Happyâ. He said he could have made a long speech, that no would would remember. Instead he kept his message short, but heartfelt. And true to his word, I remember it to this day.
At my college graduation, I remember a speakerâs main point was passing on a sentiment of his personal observation about life that still sticks with me to this day. In a nutshell, his point was that for as much planning and for as much as you think you control your life, the most life changing events happen to you without notice, on what you thought would be a regular day. For better or worse. It was a thoughtful topic, and I again gained something that stayed with me.
@mamaedefamilia - Sorry to hear about the illnesses youâve been dealing with of late and glad things have turned a corner. Hereâs hoping for continued good health!
Classes ended for seniors last Friday â the rest of the school still has a couple of weeks left, but things are wrapping up. Graduation is June 2nd â seniors are decorating their caps today, and Senior Dinner (with parents) is tomorrow.
Senior speech given is supposed to be voted on in a transparent process but D has no idea what happened with that. There is no Val/Sal, but the two kids with highest GPAs get some sort of award and probably the one with the highest has to speak. D pulled herself out of the running for that as she didnât feel like doing the work she would have had to have done in order to pull her grades up, and thatâs just fine with us. She got into where she wants to go, and has moved onâŠ
@STEM2017, I keep getting an âObject not found!â error. What are the new rules?
@dfbdfb Sorry about that. Try this linkâŠ
Not sure if someone at our school did that once or if they just want to make certain it never happens, but when my S gave his Val speech a couple of years ago not only did it have to be approved, but the school printed his speech and placed it on the podium for him assuring he did not bring an alternate speech. Not only that, the Principal had his own copy which he read along during the speech. S was warned that at the first indication of a deviation he would be removed! Overkill, or what?
The valedictorian of my high school class gave his speech from memory so there were no notes on the podium. Only things I remember of it was he equated our high school years to Star Trek (he was a huge fan) and he ended it with âLive long and prosperâ and the Vulcan salute. Remember nothing else of his speech. My best friend gave the salutatorian speech and I can remember absolutely nothing of what he said (though he did have notes).
Presumably kids who are picked to give speeches are kids who the administration trust not to do something dumb. And they have to give the line that the kids will get the hook if they deviate at all from the submitted speech. But you have to be careful because the kid may just mess up (in large part because she/he is nervous). So some leeway would need to be given before the hook is made. I donât have as much of an issue with the kidsâ speeches. They have earned the chance to speak (whatever rules exist to make the determination). And they are at least graduating too. Though again, brevity is your friend. Its the administrators who insist on talking (and typically about nothing relevant or memorable) that I can totally do without.
auditions at DSâs school also. Even though he competed in speech and debate and did very well, DS didnât want to give the speech. He thinks he is not a natural public speaker and his classmate is a better candidate. We donât know who was selected yet.
@MotherOfDragons dsâ class size being just over 80 is looking better and better when I think about sitting through a graduation ceremony for 800 kids! A deck of cards might really be in order.
D was instructed to write a speech of 1000-1200 words, which works out to 7-9 minutes (according to Google calculator)! Could that be right? Now Iâm really worried [-O<