<p>Dear friends from 2004-2005…so great to see you! Thanks to audiophile. My eldest son was likely headed to one of our good state schools till I stumbled onto this website one day and stupidly and awkwardly made an identity from my schoolgirl club name in fourth grade…it was a “Bambi” fan club. How old to you have to be to know who Faline was? (really really really old. Beyond belief old.)
I remember really hesitating to post the first time and being a newbie! I had no idea…that I would be here for four years instead of for one evening…but here I am with final son heading to college next year. I have learned so much here and have grown mighty fond of many of you and your wit and wisdom.
2005 HS graduate went to Duke to be in their orchestra and to attend a school with a more global outlook than he had growing up in our sleepy corner of VA. He was whisked to Russia the first year, lived in Berlin junior year, mastered German. His social life is bigger and broader than I could ever have imagined, and he worked in what was his high school intellectual passion in an internship in Wash DC one summer with someone truly inspirational. He was a tour guide for Duke, and plans to send all his children there…so we hope he has a good career in mind. Although Duke is a big/small school, he befriended his fascinating instrument teacher, and kept up his keen interest in musicology…and yesterday gave his all time best solo recital. And perhaps his last recital…he is not a future professional, but he really put the “liberal arts” into life in a major research university, and he did make us glad we let him have this opportunity. He has landed a job in an innovative major finance company in a big city where a few thousand Dukies live, and he will be saying good-bye to the four happiest years of his life so far. I would not say he has a vocation or sureness of purpose for his adult years, so I am sure working for a living will be a challenge to all of that self definition ahead.<br>
Son number 2 came of age in a recession and after we felt much more vulnerable financially, and he worked very hard to secure merit dollars. He has decided to attend Vanderbilt, his father’s alma mater, on a blessed, unexpected Chancellor’s Scholarship. He sent in his check today. He had many other fine offers, and again, it was a privilege indeed to experience the good of our nation’s colleges…any college on his list would have been a great honor to become a part of forever…saying good-bye to each of his schools…he did that task yesterday by personal note.
I think second son has grown so much just from the act of visiting each college, appreciating the good of each place, and getting a handle on how much vision and devotion is required to create each university we came to love and respect. </p>
<p>It is wonderful to hear about B’s son from Kansas, our son’s classmate. Many of son’s friends are going to med school and have so much to offer in the future. </p>
<p>the empty nest awaits…I find my memories are full of stories from this board, and full of breadth from hearing from all of you, and a couple of times I reached out to prospective students privately… a couple of them are at Vandy now…astounding. Had no idea my own son would ever go to Vandy and join them–he applied to Vandy without ever seeing it, and without liking what he read about it in books…but with the shock of the recession he made every attempt to seek merit options for the good of the family. In the end he had a few great equally good options, but he simply fell for Nashville and Vandy the first time he saw the place…on MLK weekend. Even so, he never thought it would work out financially! Truly…sometimes circles in this world just complete on their own.</p>
<p>Thanks Dig,
How is your S’s business going? What is D doing?</p>
<p>I too am enjoying this thread. When S was welcomed back to his UG with open arms and a position created for him, it solidified my feelings for paying for a special school, rather than take a free ride elsewhere.</p>
<p>No D, but 2 sons. S1 is graduating from law school in May. S2 is graduating from UG in June. His film production business gave him money during UG, so that with scholarships, etc, the load on me was light. His team has had a lot of success, being involved with about 50 productions during his 4 years. Right now they are having enormous success on the film festival circuit, and just last weekend won best student film at the Las Vegas International Film Festival. Right now he is Visual Effects Supervisor on a feature length film set to debut at a film festival in June. I hope all this translates into a job in the near future.</p>
<p>Amazing, dig! Your must be awestruck with your son’s creative energies and with seeing his passions actualized this way…and congrats to your law school grad.<br>
I admit I was wondering for a minute how he pulled this off from the Univ of GA but I got it now…</p>
<p>My DD is a 2004 grad, but I’ll chime in. She spent the year in Turkey compliments of a travel scholarship from her UG university, and is now interning at a non-profit that works with civil and refugee rights. She’ll be home for a month this summer, then will head on back for another year. She’s confident that she will be able to find work there that will pay enough to support her and her unpaid internship. She thinks that grad or law school is in the future the following year. DS is a sophomore in undergrad ChemE and doing well. He will not be home this summer (he’ll be working fulltime as a research assistant), except maybe for a weekend visit, so we will really feel like empty nesters! :eek:</p>
<p>long and book great to hear from you. You must be terribly proud - I know I am. dig- Wow! A tremendous honor, and a law school grad to boot! Are your buttons popping yet? faline, thanks for letting us know. You, also must be very proud. It is so great to hear all these wonderful stories about our terrific kids! Keep them coming!</p>
<p>Parent of college junior here. In HS, he wrote an essay about becoming an atty, entered college as undeclared engineering student & is now going for BS in EE. He will be interning at NASA in VA this summer, working on robotics. He is thinking about working and/or grad and/or law school. Still thinking of options & taking all the exams to keep options open. He’s been very happy so far with the balance he’s found with ECs & academics. S took up rock climbing–who knew? I’ve always known the he & D loved to scale things, but never knew he’d take the initiative to participate so actively in this activity. He’s also going on a trip this summer to China to collect geological samples!</p>
<p>D is a college sophomore & undeclared her Soc major & is now planning to apply for Cinema in Virtual Reality/Animation + perhaps neuroscience. It should be interesting to see how things evolve. She’s following her dream of exploring art & fencing.</p>
<p>mstee, anxious, HI, and others… what a joy to see the screen names again. HImom, your kids sound like they have such diverse interests. S1 and S2 are both cave divers, which scares the crap out of me (even though I also do it occasionally), and S2 has fallen in love with skydiving (which I do <em>NOT</em> do).</p>
<p>mstee - don’t know about the two graduations. S1 is skipping his (“costs too much”) and even though my wife and I have made plans to travel all the way to Ohio for S2, their feature film is premiering at the Lake Placid Film Festival on the same day as his graduation. And that one is already pre-paid. I went from 2 to 1, and now I might be down to 0 graduations ceremonies.</p>
<p>I just sent my last college payment off last week! Woohoo!!!</p>
<p>Yea, I am mildly apprehensive about S’s interest in rockclimbing, but know that he’s a pretty careful soul, so don’t worry too much. Am happy D is finally able to pursue her dream of fencing and also following art, which she has ALWAYS loved. I never really encouraged her sociology major (tho it was mine so I could get my BA & go to law school). I think she needs to have art as part of her life, personally & professionally for her to be happy. She also loves Europe & music so it will be fascinating to see how she combines her many interests and passions.</p>
<p>So glad to hear that so many are doing well. Wow, last college payment sounds lovely! Only a few more years and that may be us!</p>
<p>Parent of 3 sons. Son #1 is pretty old – 1998 hs grad – graduated college in 7 years taking off 3.5 years to start a software startup – his double major was Astrophysics and Philosophy-- intended to major in Physics in college but thought he’d work in research but this obviously changed – is marrying GF of 7 years this June. Son #2 I’ve posted about here – a film major – was in China for 1.5 years teaching English and returned here right in the midst of recession – thought he’d have easy time finding film post production job in NYC but not so – has two film internships in Manhattan but no paying job – might decide on grad school in education/Chinese area. Son #3 is junior at LAC in New England and majoring in Film Studies – LAC has great reputation in this area – has found two NYC internships for the summer one helping with Film Festival and another re: Internet stuff – loves his LAC and is very involved in campus activities including several bands that perform throughout New England. I’ve loved seeing them spread their wings and finding themselves. It’s a joy relating to them as adults but only my first is completely financially independent – sigh, sigh.</p>
<p>Only one more Fafsa to do… only one more fafsa to do… I can’t wait until I’m in your position, overseas! And I love all the updates on the kids, you guys, so keep them coming! :)</p>
<p>you no FAFSA people are too much.<br>
lots to be proud of here…students working in Teach for America, doing research, helping refugees, having grandchildren…HIMom…didn’t you visit DC last year…seems like I recall we were all chiming in on your itinerary! So your son is coming to DC…how about that–you all get around!</p>
<p>Cave diving is the exploration of underwater caves. It is considered one of the most dangerous sports in the world because of the very high fatality rate. Unlike normal diving, you can’t pop to the surface if something goes wrong (which it frequently does). BUT…</p>
<p>Almost all fatalities are with untrained divers. The training is VERY rigorous and specialized equipment is used with several redundancies. I have not really gone through ALL the training yet, and I recognize my limitations and do not exceed them. All of my diving has been in the springs of Florida, and I have never really gone beyond 120 feet deep nor more than about 300-400 feet into a cave (a fully trained cave diver would laugh at that, thinking, “That’s no fun.”). Some penetrate the cave to distances a mile or more… gives me the creeps to think about it.</p>
<p>I actually feel safer diving into a cave than “normal” SCUBA diving, mostly because you have lots of specialized equipment and you think a lot more about safety. For example, you monitor your air supply very closely and when you’ve used one-third of the air, you turn around, no matter what. That gives you one-third to get back out, and one-third just in case…</p>
<p>I don’t actually do that much any more, but my sons do. One is a “full” cave diver, and the other is just “cavern” trained (more limits on what you can do). I wish they would take up new hobbies.</p>
She spent the year in Turkey compliments of a travel scholarship from her UG university, and is now interning at a non-profit that works with civil and refugee rights. She’ll be home for a month this summer, then will head on back for another year. She’s confident that she will be able to find work there that will pay enough to support her and her unpaid internship. She thinks that grad or law school is in the future the following year. DS is a sophomore in undergrad ChemE and doing well. He will not be home this summer (he’ll be working fulltime as a research assistant), except maybe for a weekend visit, so we will really feel like empty nesters! :eek:</p>