Our high school had a really nice “Honor Cord Banquet” last night. It was surprising how nice it was, since we are a large public school in a rural-ish suburb, and generally pay way more attention to sports achievements than academic achievements. But it was held in a really elegant venue with a wonderful plated dinner. Each table had a faculty member host who had personally selected the students and guests for his table. There were speeches and such. One nice touch was a very large nicely printed book with photos and bio’s of each the Honor Cord kids. Each kid and parent was announced by their faculty host, and the parents presented the Honor Cord. It was just really, really nice. 
@RightCoaster If S19 is going into Engineering, some schools might want to see Math 2 score not Math 1.
He can take Math 2 after Pre Calc. Math 1 and 2 do not count as 2 tests naturally. 
Congrats to all who had graduations this past weekend! Four more weeks to go for us, arrgh! New Jersey, I tell ya. I’m extremely busy at work this month so I might be MIA for awhile although I do check in quickly every couple of days
We are right there with you @Fishnlines29 - graduation is the last weekend in June. Really though, there are only 10 more days of school or so for the seniors. Last weekend was the senior ball, today was a nice summa cum laude breakfast (not half as fancy as yours though @Mommertons!), and tomorrow they are going on their senior trip for three days. My daughter is so excited for it. It’s a few hours away at a summer camp and it sounds like it will be a blast - ziplining, canoeing, kayaking, volleyball, swimming, movies, bonfires, etc… Makes me envious Grown-up camp, anyone?
Congrats on those who have already graduated, and those doing so this weekend. Hope the weather holds out for all!
Congratulations to all of those who graduated. For those with children who did not graduate yet, enjoy the next few weeks. S17 had his baccalaureate ceremony last week and graduated last Friday. It was an amazing ceremony (actually both were) which far exceeded my expectations. It was very well done and with the focus really on the students. The speeches were excellent and the guest speaker was fantastic. They also had an assembly to distribute awards which was the afternoon of baccalaureate. S17 was excited to be honored for a few different awards. By breaking it up, it made graduation a very nice event for all students as it was the finale of the weeks events. It was, for the parents, a bit of an emotional week but it was such a joyous event that even the emotional aspect was under control. I did really well during graduation but after all of our company left on Monday, I started to feel sad knowing S17 would not be home every day in the fall. We have had non-stop traffic here for over a week with family, and now S17s friends around day and night. I joke that we are the new bed and breakfast in town as all of our guest rooms are occupied since family left on Monday. That’s okay, they are all fabulous boys.
I have decided to focus on dorm items and, well, it seems I am late as there are many items that we attempted to purchase that are no longer available. I’ll be shopping this weekend for a few more bedding items. I am fine with getting what he needs when he is in Boston but when it comes to bedding, I need to feel confident we have what he needs so I will purchase that and we will take it with us. It’s all very exciting. Hopefully, the summer doesn’t fly by.
@paveyourpath — I have not started shopping, so am a bit alarmed to read that items are already out of stock. Anything in particular I should start to worry about tracking down?
I love reading the different graduation traditions at schools nationwide. I keep ‘liking’ the stories as I read them. Thanks for sharing parents!
@RightCoaster It definitely helps to have taken AP Chem for the Chem subject test. Otherwise- he would do better to take some time and prep for it. Reason prep has a great online prep course my dc said was the best resource for this test.
@VickiSoCal and @RightCoaster - I can’t think of any school that requires that all subject scores be sent. Most schools require that you send all SAT and/or ACT scores, and some will recommend that you also send 2 Subject Test scores, but, to the best of my knowledge, you can pick which subject test scores to send.
I am confident that you will be fine as far as dorm shopping goes. Target should have sales later this summer and Walmart usually puts out their dorm items, bedding sets, twin xl sheets, and such later than this too.
I know I did not have everything in June!
@RightCoaster --I would confirm the current score reporting policies for each school your child is considering. I have not looked into this in more than a year, and sense that the introduction of the new SAT I has brought about changes in score reporting of SAT II also. Fewer schools requiring submission of all testing history.
I had copied something from this site more than a year ago and will paste it here, knowing that it is already out of date. Am only posting as point of reference, so that you can see how the policies vary.
"As to colleges that actually have any all scores rule, the list has been changing over the last several years, principally by colleges that had adopted all scores rules dropping any such rule, and the group is now about 21 colleges (but only 13 if you count UCs as one). Thus, by fall when you apply, this list might change further. Moreover, what is actually required varies among those colleges:
Georgetown requires all SAT, SAT subject test, and ACT scores.
Duke requires either all ACTs or, alternatively, all SATs and subject tests; if you submit any SAT or any subject test scores, you must submit both all SATs and all subject tests.
Stanford, Penn and Barnard require both all SATs and all ACTs, but you can send whatever subject test scores you want to send.
Yale requires either all SATs or all ACTs (if you decide to send both you must send all of both), but you can send whatever subject test scores you want to send.
Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, and Harvey Mudd require either all SATs or all ACTs (and all of both if you decide to send both), plus all subject tests
Rice and Tufts require all SATs if you send any SATs but you can send the ACTs or subject tests you want to send.
UCs require all SAT’s if you send any SATs, you can send whichever subject tests you want to send, and though it is somewhat ambiguous, its published rule appears to allow you to send whatever ACTs you want to send.
Syracuse requires all SAT scores if you send any SAT, but you can send whatever ACTs you want to send (it does not require or consider subject tests).
DUKE correction:
All candidates for admission must complete one of the following standardized testing options: the ACT, including writing, or the SAT, including the essay for students who choose to submit the new SAT. For students who submit the SAT, two SAT Subject Tests are strongly recommended. Students who have taken multiple tests may choose which scores to send to Duke. For students who elect to send multiple test scores Duke will use whichever score is highest."
Penn is a very recent change and now accepts score choice and thus you can send whatever you want to send. Barnard, as far as I am aware, still has an “all scores” rule, see http://admissions.barnard.edu/apply-barnard/standardized-testing-and-our-score-choice-policy
So it looks like my son’s final lax game will be tonight. He plays with a group of kids that he doesn’t get along with because they are always partying, doing stupid crap, bullying kids etc. Well karma has come around and this group of kids went to a senior function last night and got caught drinking/partying and were confronted by the school admins and the police, got breathalyzed. They’ve been suspended for the rest of playoffs and don’t get to walk with the other kids on graduation day. There were about 50 kids that got caught out of 350, fortunately my son was not involved and stayed out of trouble. His friend group is a nice group of kids.
I’m sort of happy that these kids were finally reprimanded for their poor behavior, but I feel bad for the kids whose senior night was abrublty halted. The kids put in a lot of effort to set up the night and a lot of money was spent. It’s a shame that some of the kids ruined it for the rest of the class.
So without this group of senior lax players at the game tonight we are certain to lose as we are playing a top ranked team. I don’t think they would’ve won anyway, so I’m sort of happy to see the naughty kids miss their final game and hope it’s a lesson for the rest of the kids in the school.
Anyways, looking forward to graduation this weekend. Should be a nice day and my son is looking forward to it.
Who our kids pick as friends, can make all of the difference in the world. One reason I pushed/bribed my daughter into the much more rigorous AICE HS program, was to nudge her toward a different group of friends (vs middle school).
^^^ and me driving extra two hours each day (morning and afternoon) to a charter school for 7 years.
So glad to be done with driving and not to be part of public school system any more with the new administration. (well college is public too, but it is different.)
D17’s HS graduation was yesterday and - notwithstanding one nice surprise (D got an award ) - it was a rather infuriating and disappointing ceremony. I will preface this by saying that, prior to this year, the custom was to have both a faculty member and a student give commencement speeches at graduation. I don’t know what the process for picking the faculty member was, but the student speaker was voted on by the senior class (based on personal statements/speeches that students had written and presented over the course of the year). Both the faculty and student speeches I had heard in years past were all quite good.
This year, in keeping with the school’s new administration and its educational model that seems evermore interested in making D’s school as pre-professional, tech-centered and STEM-y as possible, the aforementioned faculty and student commencement speakers were dropped in favor of bringing in an outside speaker. The speaker they brought in was a less-than-charismatic multibillionaire former head of a big tech company. He was truly among the worst orators I have ever had the misfortune of hearing. He mostly just talked about himself and how he built his company, all the while extolling the virtues of technology while not saying anything even remotely related to the graduating seniors or touching on any of the usual commencement themes. Bluntly stated, Graduation Bingo would have been a big bust. Altogether an infuriating and underwhelming event.
But high school is OVER!! (and so is my rant #:-S)
@CT1417 The items that were out of stock online were comforter sets and sheets. Some colorful sheets were available but the colors available were not going to work for my son. I went to Bed Bath & Beyond and the manager was very helpful. They had very limited twin xl comforter sets and sheet sets available. I did get the comforter set I was trying to buy online the other night. Even though it indicated there were none available in any store near me. It was listed online for $129. At the register it rang up $99. The second choice that I settled for the other night was delivered today and it was definitely a disappointment and will be returned.
I didn’t find any sheets in the store but I am going to go back into the store, make selections and do the Pack and Hold. The manager said that with 1,500 stores, they will be able to find almost anything needed and we can pick it up at the store near campus. She pointed out that with so many kids going to camps on college campuses, they are also shopping and that is causing items to become sold out by early summer. A large shipment of 3" mattress toppers will be delivered next week but I’m going to have that included in the pack and hold.
Thanks @paveyourpath. I cannot remember if I bought an XL twin comforter for my older son or simply XL twin sheets, with a regular twin comforter. (I do remember that it was ready for the ‘camping’ pile by the end of two years.)
I can’t recall if you will be flying to school. If so, ignore my next suggestion, but if you will be driving, Costco sells the three inch memory foam mattress pad for less than BB&B after 20% discount. I think they even sell XL twin mattress pads (b/c it is not enough to have a three inch foam pad, but one must enrobe it in a mattress pad and bed bug protector!)
Glad you were able to snag the one you liked, and for less money than you expected to pay!
@LoveTheBard’s description reminded me of my graduation ceremony: We had 3-or-so-minute speeches from the valedictorian and salutatorian (not the one who actually earned sal, but the one where they did a one-time adjustment to the calculation method so someone more politically connected could be sal), and then brief but boring remarks from the principal, and finally a really insanely boring 15ish-minute speech by some eighth-string player on the Washington Redskins none of us in our football-obsessed school had over heard of. (The only interesting part of it is that he closed his speech by telling us all to “Go and kick ass!” He also gave us each a penny for some reason as we crossed the stage, but that was the school’s doing, not his.)
At my D’s 5th grade graduation the principal gave them these 4 tips for life:
Work hard
Pick your friends wisely
Get involved at your school/community
Follow the golden rule
Good advice for any age
My D only had a one inch foam topper and a plush mattress pad, and it was fine.
We got a plain white twin comforter and a duvet cover with matching sham. The cover can be washed more easily than the whole comforter since the machines are not that big. The bedding is fine after two years and will be used again next year. Then when she moves off campus and has to buy a bed and mattress, we might get a full/queen size.
Sheesh, is my kids’ high school the only one that doesn’t truck in guest speakers?
S is graduated! It poured all day but cleared just before graduation! Our principal went on and on and on. The rest of the speakers were good (no one trucked in at our ISD). He leaves in about 5 hours for a week in England visiting a friend of his. I am a bit nervous but I think they have decided to stay away from London most of their visit.