<p>Late to School, It is my understanding that the Book Awards are actual books which are given by a local alumni organization which has no official connection with the school. It is not a thank you note to someone at her school who chose her to receive the award, like NMS, val, or sal, but rather to the outside group who paid for the book and donated it to be given to a deserving student.</p>
<p>This might be sort of a weird question, but is it strange to physically hand a thank you note to someone? What exactly do you say when one does that? I am thinking about writing a thank you note to some of my teachers, just to show my appreciation for their patience, knowledge, and for, well, teaching me, but I’m not sure how to give it to them. My preferred method would be by putting it in their mailbox at school (in the mail room that students are actually not supposed to be in without staff accompaniment), but somehow that seems a bit impersonal and odd. Handing it to them in person seems even more awkward, though. Maybe drop it off on their desks when they’re not looking? I don’t want to look all sneaky, though. I know I am asking about a simple procedure, but how do people usually give thank you notes (not through mail)? :)</p>
<p>I wrote thank you notes to the teachers who did recs for me. I just thanked them for generously taking the time (which they do not have to do), told them how much I enjoyed their class and specific things about it, and about my future plans. They were so pleased and said no one ever writes them notes. Everyone likes to get mail or a note, it does not matter whether it is required, there is no one who is going to say, no thanks I don’t want a nice note! So yes, it is the nice thing to do when someone does something to benefit you IMO. </p>
<p>I think this is really different from say, National Merit. This is much more personal, and you pay CB to run National Merit and take their test anyway. Someone went to pick out the book, etc.</p>
<p>Also writing thank you notes is just a good practice. It leaves a favorable impression. One of these people could be in a position to help your daughter get a job someday. In my case, one of those letters of recomendation was inadvertantly not copied by the GC before the last copy was sent out - a routine mistake, no big deal, except that teacher had left the school to take another job at that point. She ended up going out of her way to deliver it so it could be sent without delay, and could be personalized to each school, rather than a generic emailed one without a proper signature.</p>
<p>Latetoschool:</p>
<p>Motheroftwo is partially correct. The Yale, Harvard, Princeton books (for example) are sponsored by local alum associations, and are usually the same book each year (my D rec’d the Harvard which is a collection of essays written by famous Harvard grads). Typically school counsellors select the recipients so there is some connection to the school. However, a thank you note is very appropriate and can be very helpful in making connections for the future. It is also, just good manners and good practice.</p>
<p>My D won a variety of awards sponsored by local groups, for example, a few musical theater singing awards, the Harvard Book, etc. In each case she “earned” them, but sent a thank you note anyway to acknowlege receiving the award (often the group leader is not present when the award is presented). She also won a NMS, but of course did not write a thank you.</p>
<p>deadgiveaway:</p>
<p>If I were one of your teachers, I would be delighted to receive a thank you note, no matter how it was delivered or what form it was in. I don’t think putting the letters in their mailboxes would be odd or impersonal at all. Why not ask a staff member in the school office to do that since access is restricted, or you could send them via the school by snail mail, or even send emails. Handing them the notes or leaving them on their desks would also be perfectly fine.</p>
<p>It is very thoughtful of you to plan to do this…don’t let uncertainty about “how” get in your way!</p>
<p>laserbrother:</p>
<p>I agree with you, too.</p>
<p>deadgiveaway: High school teachers do not need (and most don’t want) the little teacher gifts that have become an annual ritual at year-end (at least at the lower grades). But, a high school teacher would really appreciate a hand written note (such a lost art) from a student, especially if it expresses thanks for something specific (such as help in becoming a better writer, encouraging you to do/be something, etc). If they are just generic thank you notes, I am not sure I would bother, but if they are personal and sincere…do it! Also, I would just hand them to each teacher a few days before school gets out and say, “thank you!” If a specific teacher has really meant a lot to you, or if you have had that teacher a few times, it is more meaningful. We have slipped a $5 Starbucks gift card in one or two notes over the years.</p>
<p>Something very coincidental relevant to this thread just happened at my house. It is pretty funny because I did not mention to my daughter anything about this CC discussion of thank you notes. </p>
<p>My daughter went to the Swarthmore graduation to see her senior friends graduate and just returned home. She was very impressed with the three recipients of the honorary degrees, especially Marcia A. Clark. In her speech, Dr. Clark said that she was asked in 1999 if she was interested in founding a liberal arts college for women in Saudi Arabia. She wrote a proposal for this, but it was rejected. Dr. Clark then wrote a thank you note to the Saudi princess (at least that is what my daughter called her) saying that she appreciated their consideration of the proposal, and that the princess should not give up on her dream of starting the school, and that perhaps in the future it would happen. Well, it turned out that they had rejected the proposal because it was in such technical language that no one could understand it, and they were so impressed with her thank you note that they invited her to found the school after all. Her closing line in her speech at the graduation was, “So don’t forget your thank you notes!”</p>
<p>My daughter told me it reminded her of me 
and my insistence on thank you notes, and that she could just imagine me leaning over to my son and poking him and saying, “Did you hear that?” </p>
<p>I guess I have at least been a successful mom as far as thank you notes are concerned!</p>
<p>YES! I don’t understand the reluctance many kids her age have to do this (I’m including my son in this indictment). It can’t be the time involved, which is far less than the time they spend arguing about it!!</p>
<p>Saying “thank you” is never a bad thing! It is a fine habit to have. Think about the last time you received an unexpected “thank you.” How did you feel? </p>
<p>Right. </p>
<p>We just had this discussion around the subject of writing to thank a corporate VP who called to talk to son about a possible employment opportunity. Son’s take: “I already thanked him on the phone. It will look dumb to say the same thing in a note.” </p>
<p>That, I think, may be the key. They don’t want to look dumb, clueless, uncool…plus, we, as old folks, don’t understand the way the world is today.</p>
<p>I nagged him into submission this time.</p>
<p>At my workplace, we are very short on funds for travel to conferences right now. I needed to attend a conference that was specifically about something I was working on, and, after much paperwork and justification, an exception was made and I was funded to attend. When I returned, I wrote a thank you email to the high level administrator who had approved my request for travel funds, telling him how worthwhile the conference had been and how much I appreciated his approval. I could tell he was very surprised and happy to get the email from me, because normally all he hears on this topic are complaints from people who are not allowed to travel to conferences (as has happened to me in the past on other occasions).</p>
<p>Yes, but, in all of these examples, what I am reading (hearing) are examples of either (1) business proposals, and/or (2) people going out of their way to do things either as personal favors, or, that they do not HAVE to do. </p>
<p>How the Yale Book Award differs, in my opinion (and as an aside, there is no harm done writing the letter of course), is that (1) the “giver” didn’t give it specifically to Laserbrother’s daughter, rather, they gave it to an institution, in this case Laserbrother’s daughter’s high school, and they in turn trusted the administrators of that school to do something logical with it, and (2) the school needed to give it to someone, so they gave it to Laserbrother’s daughter, on the basis of academic merit. She earned it. </p>
<p>How does Yale benefit from this? I’m sort of wondering. Is this a marketing program for them - to drive applications? Or is it brand management? Or part of advertising for the purpose of recruiting? Perhaps the local Yale club should be sending Laserbrother’s daughter a thank you letter for her academic achievement, and for allowing her name to be used in the promotion of their school. I’m being only slightly facitious - I’m actually half serious. </p>
<p>There’s a huge difference between the very appropriate thank you note for people and institutions who go out of their way to do things for others, or who go beyond what their job description requires - or perhaps they do what their job description requires but they execute in an exceptional manner, and organizations who mass market programs (not just colleges - trophy shops that donate medals, etc. for sporting events, and so on) and then the ultimate recipient empirically earns the material item.</p>
<p>Having said that, no possible harm can come from Laserbrother’s daughter writing such a note, IF she wants to. Of course, were this a graduation gift, I am reasonably sure the same young lady would write the thank you note without hesitation.</p>
<p>MotherofTwo, slightly off the topic, but I wonder about the proposal scenario - I write a LOT of proposals in the course of my work, and usually there is a lot of money in play, if the proposal is successful. I always deliver the proposal package with a cover letter, personally, hand signed, and that letter ALWAYS starts out language along the lines of “thank you for the opportunity to offer this proposal/our business credentials for your review and consideration - we appreciate the opportunity…etc…” in other words, the “thank you” comes first, in front of everything else, and, that “thank you” is the entire prose and purpose of the cover letter. Then, I send additional thank you letters to any/all internal advocates of my proposal, in tandem, so that it gets some evangelism while it’s in play. </p>
<p>There are some exceptions - in some cultures it may be seen as presumptuous and in those situations we do something different - or, if it may be in violation of some acquisition policy, etc. But otherwise the “thank you” message gets out in front of, and then supports, all proposals. So I’m sort of wondering why Dr. Clark would wait until post-decision to say “thank you”…</p>
<p>I wasn’t there to hear the speech. I don’t know if this was a standard business proposal - as I understand it, it was more like this Saudi princess had a dream to provide opportunities for higher education for women. I imagine that Clark probably did thank them when she submitted her proposal, too. I don’t want to get into a detailed discussion of something I personally didn’t hear and I really wasn’t saying this is exactly the same as the Yale Book Award question. I just thought it was cute that my daughter was so impressed with Dr. Clark’s emphasis on the importance of thank you notes and that it reminded my daughter of me and my insistence on thank you notes. Sometimes you don’t know if something you have tried to instill in your kids has penetrated, but in this case, it apparently has.</p>
<p>I agree, and I don’t want to belabor the issue or get off track of the OP, however, it bears stopping to think - in general - when writing thank you notes, who is really being thanked, and specifically for what. </p>
<p>Example, perhaps a retail business “donates” tshirts to a sports team. Of course, those shirts will bear the logo of the donating business. Should the team captain or coach write a thank you letter to the president of the business? In my opinion, NOT if the net of it is that the business gets a team of young people walking around in shirts bearing the logo…pretty cheap, petty, sneaky usurious advertising, and not “thank you” note meritous.</p>
<p>Our high school tells the kids that they should be sure to thank the donors of these awards in the letter that tells them that they need come to the award ceremony.</p>
<p>“How the Yale Book Award differs, in my opinion (and as an aside, there is no harm done writing the letter of course), is that (1) the “giver” didn’t give it specifically to Laserbrother’s daughter, rather, they gave it to an institution…”</p>
<p>While this may be the case for some book awards, as I noted in an earlier post, I pick out a book specifically for the recipient. I ask the HS for the name of the recipient and that student’s academic and extracurricular interests, and then pick a book related to those interests (hopefully by an alum or professor from my alma mater…but not always.)</p>
<p>Like Mathmom, for the awards students get in their senior year, our HS also includes a note about thanking the donor (whether an individual or institution.) This type of award still fits into latetoschools criteria of “the school needed to give it to someone,” but I’m glad they encourage the note to be written. Just wish they did it for the few Junior awards, too!</p>
<p>The bottom line, for me, is that it is much better to write too many thank you’s than too few. That it NEVER hurts to say thank you, regardless of whether it is “truly” merited or not. And, more cynically, you never know when the person who received the thank you will be in a position to remember you favorably. PLUS it is better to add to the positive vibes in the world whenever possible than to be miserly with them!</p>
<p>latetoschool. I think you are wrong here. </p>
<p>Yale, Harvard, Princeton, etc are not using the book awards for marketing. They don’t need to market. They have more than enough applications.</p>
<p>Their alumni associations are local organizations. As I mentioned in a previous post, the rep from Harvard’s alum association, responded to my D’s thank you note, by being a resource of information, answering her questions about the application process (to schools other than, but including Harvard) and offering indirect help. The award is given to the school to select a student that meets specific criteria set by the sponsor. In essence, it is a “gift” from the sponsor and should be acknowledged and appreciated.</p>
<p>Also, when an organization asks for donated items like shirts or services, it is because they don’t have the funds to pay for goodies. Businesses donate, and yes, some get their names on the shirts, others don’t. But it is a win-win. By saying Thank You, you increase the chance that the business will continue to donate product or services. Many businesses just say “no” because they are inundated with requests. Others realize the value to the recipient and themselves and one of the benefits is “good will.” </p>
<p>When did “thank you’s” become a comodity that is parcelled out according to rules? I dont beleive that saying thank you is ever over-the-top or unwelcomed and I hope that people would not put a negative spin or attribute questionable motives to a thank you note. I find that jaded</p>