And that's a wrap for one midwestern kid

twoinanddone
Thu, 07 Apr 2022 00:26:57 +0000

My daughter did have a signing day for athletics. It truly was more important to her (and me) than her graduation. A real celebration of her hard work.

A friend’s daughter had one for academics. It was a small, specialized hs program and there were about 30 kids who were recognized by the schools they were heading to. Reps from the colleges came and brought swag and congratulatory words (friend posted the ceremony on FB). This was in Ohio and IIRC all the schools were state or small private schools in Ohio, most in the area of the HS but some farther away. It actually was quite touching that the schools all sent hats and pennants and admissions officers to speak.

Nothing stopping schools from celebrating scholars. My daughters’ hs had a senior award night and my non-athletic daughter was recognized for her theater scholarship. Lots of military scholarships, (and of course the girl going to Navy), the history awards, art prizes, essay contest winners… But it was really strange and not fun like the athletic one at all. And there was no food!

The athletic awards were all celebrated, the NAIA, Div 3 schools, JUCO, Div 2 and Div 1 (and of course the girl going to Navy). The was put on by the athletic department and the food all paid for by the parents of the athletes.

Any department could have sponsored their own celebrations, and some did. The theater department had an ‘awards night’ and I think the special program in engineering did too.

Graduation? Not much special recognition at all, even for the Val and Sal. Of course, the girl going to Navy was mentioned several times.