Parents of the HS Class of 2013

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
6461

<p>MizzBee: Welcome and good luck to your DS :)</p>

<p>GPA’s: Not exactly sure how they do the whole Valedictorian, etc at the kids school.
Jr has an overall UW GPA of 3.98…damn 90+ year old Sister Marie for Hnr English his Freshman year. He had a 89.45 on the class and got a 98% on the final and she STILL wouldn’t bump up the grade. She was not fond of Football players :(</p>

<p>Weighted GPA is a 4.8 with a cum. of 4.68 and I believe he is in the top 2 or 3 in his class. In any event, from what I am told, he will get to sit on the stage in a White robe for Graduation for having one of the top GPA’s. I’m just happy I will be able to see him :D</p>

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<p>Our school has one val, one sal, etc, and there is a lot of GPA competition. My D knew by taking chorus 2 years she would be taking herself out of the possibility for Val. There are kids taking AP Euro online, which is much less work than the actual class, but not much she can do about that. I don’t know anyone taking CC classes, so I don’t know how that is counted. She does take a study hall, not because it boosts her GPA (which it does) but because she is a 2 sport athlete in 5 AP classes and 1 honors level class and needs the time to get her work done. She has a 4.0 UW, so we will be happy wherever she ends up in the class rank.</p>

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<p>I personally don’t have any heartburn about Val/Sal. I’d rather have a happy, well rounded kid. Not saying you can’t have both but all the worrying isnt worth the time or energy in my book. DD13a has a study hall and an independent study next year. Idk if that will officially drop her out of the top 10% or not but she will be happy in all off her courses. After the malaise and boredom she suffered in frosh and soph years, I’ll take it. I think she will graduate with a 4.3W or something like that. DD13b is a choir and drama kid she dropped out of top ten in sophomore year. Don’t care. She is still a smart kid, just loves the arts!!</p>

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<p>I am also sooo tired of the race for val/sal & top 10. They give 10 extra ponts for AP & college courses at community college. Very few AP courses are offered so those that take community college courses have an edge. Most selective colleges prefer the AP classes to the “dual enrollment” at comunity college. In fact, many of the community college classes will not transfer to even the moderately selective state schools. So the valedictorian may have a 103 GPA but #20 in the class may get into a more selective college with better merit aid. The AP classes are always more difficult than the community college classes.</p>

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<p>No competition for val/sal, etc. here at S’13’s HS. I think the kids are aware of whether they are in the top 10% or not (guaranteed state U admission) but otherwise, it is usually a surprise. D’s year the val was a band kid - so arts classes don’t seem to “count against” them. They offer most AP courses (8 extra points), but very few kids take more than one or two a year. You know, after hearing on CC about all the academic stress and homework issues at more competitive high schools, I think I’m very happy that S is at an average HS.</p>

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<p>Hi 13’ers!</p>

<p>perazziman, congrats on the A! woo hoo!</p>

<p>swizzle, wow, almost a senior! Good luck with the tournament, and wear sunscreen! lol
It sounds like you have some good options for LORs.</p>

<p>CBG, congratulations on the awards! DS did that too - I found out later from the GC. Great news about exam exemptions, Oh I wish our school did that! Wonderful GPA news!</p>

<p>asmuoh, that’s great the LORs are in place. That’s nice to know they’ll be done in plenty of time.</p>

<p>tx5, good luck with the Tennis Banquet.</p>

<p>YDS, great election news!</p>

<p>vandy, I DVR’d Glee - I have to watch when DD isn’t around since she hates it. It reminds me of watching ToyStory 3 during DS’ senior year. DS, DD and I were all teary!</p>

<p>Mizbee, thanks for LOR tips, and keep dropping in to share, please. :)</p>

<p>re GPA - I expect DD’s to dip a bit, and she is then struggling to stay in the top 10% (small school so a few places makes a big difference.) It seems so unfair that it be such a big deal, especially when schools all do it differently. Oh well, what will be…</p>

<p>So, today’s news… DD got hit in the head today by a softball bat, when it slipped out of a girl’s hand at practice.<br>
The trainer checked her out and she is a little dizzy and has a headache, but nothing else yet. I’m on watch for nausea, worsening headache etc., and the doc wants me to check her every few hours tonight.
Can I say *&%#! DD has state and conference softball tournaments over the next week, and an important field hockey tournament this weekend. It looks like all of that will be sidelined if there’s a concussion risk now. Poor kid! So frustrating.</p>

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<p>Yesterday S took an AP Chemistry test. At the end of the test teacher says, she forgot to tell them, but they could use the formulae written on the blackboard to answer the questions. Nearly all the kids were shocked to learn this. Son said he was wasting all his time looking for solutions to problems that he could have solved easily with those formulae. There were only three kids in the class who had seen the formulae and used them to solve the questions. The same test was taken by students in other sections, who knew they could use those formulae. Now the teacher is talking about letting these kids earn a fraction of the lost points by doing some corrections. I feel the fair thing would be to either retest all the kids or scrap the test, but what do you think? Also, do you think I should speak to the GC or Principal, if teacher is not flexible or just drop it?</p>

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<p>Senior awards ceremony today at our high school. We have 3 kids, 3, going to Yale, wow. They didn’t have all of the colleges listed, that comes out later, but those kids got various recognition at Yale. We had a 4th get in but he got a full ride elsewhere so he declined. He was the “shoe in”-as much as there is such a thing at Yale, perfect ACT and SAT, NMF, top AP scholar award, etc., etc. Nice kid too. I am always amazed at the level at which these kids succeed. The other kids were the kind of kids that everyone says “wow, I didn’t know they were that good of students”. Good recognition for them.</p>

<p>perazziman-I would let your son handle it. I would not step in. Frustrating but it sounds like the teacher acknowledged her mistake and is offering a solution.</p>

<p>tx5-I was going to suggest using Facebook for the slideshow but it looks like you got something figured out. Have fun.</p>

6469

<p>My son is something else! He has put in apps all over town for a job. When I get home today there’s a message to call a local McDonalds for a job interview tomorrow. Yeah!! So what does my wonderful son say…“I don’t want to work at McDonals.” Can you believe it? As hard as it is in this economy for teenagers to get a job, he’s being picky??? Guess it’s time for me to stop paying for gas…</p>

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<p>Terinzak: My kids hold up their bratty little noses at McDonalds too. I worked at Mickey D’s was in college. It didn’t kill me. I have great stories from working there.</p>

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<p>Annie, that stinks. Poor kid! Hope she feels perfect tomorrow!</p>

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<p>Reeinaz- you make me laugh on a daily basis! I could just picture you screaming the lyrics and crying. And I think of myself as a wackaloon in training!</p>

<p>Thanks Mizzbee for the advice. D has asked and we are getting a “brag sheet” to the teachers tomorrow. Too bad one of her teachers looked at her askance and asked her why she is doing this now instead of next year! #thanksforundoingallmywork</p>

<p>Our school doesn’t do vals or sals OR rank. There’s only about 70 kids in the grade. I have no idea where she falls in the class grades-wise… those things are not discussed. I’m guessing in the top 10-15%. Either way, I think she has done an amazing job and I’m proud of her.</p>

<p>Anniezz- OMG, Toy Story 3 kills us too. When we saw it in the theater, I was still doing the ugly cry even after all the credits. And then I looked over at my husband and he was doing the ugly cry too! lol!! We laughed through our tears then! D is going to watch Glee tonight so I’m going to sit with her and “do work”… meanwhile peeping at her to see how she handles it.
OH MY! Watch for a concussion closely. My youngest had one in elementary school- in and out of consciousness, vomiting, the whole nine yards. Hope your sweet D is all right. I hate that she might miss things she is looking forward to doing!</p>

<p>Perazziman- I think they should be able to take a new test, with posted (and known about!) formulae. Even being able to correct for lost points, that is still only a fraction redeemed. But, like SteveMA said, I am not sure that I would intervene. If it were a final exam or something, I would. But in this instance, I’d have to really think about whether this was something I would want to wage, or save up for something more important later if needed.</p>

<p>terinzak- I have heard this time and time again from this generation of kids. They don’t want to take jobs “like that” but think they should be getting and paid for higher quality jobs from the outset. It’s infuriating. Hopefully he’ll reconsider.</p>

<p>So my D was told by the GC today that she would have to make changes in her schedule b/c they can’t accommodate the classes she wants in the schedule. She’s going to have to drop one AP. She was upset but truly, I am kind of glad. I was concerned that she would be too overloaded and stressed next year and now I think she will be more balanced. In the whole scheme of things, that just really matters to me.</p>

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<p>terinzak–I’ve discouraged our kids from working at McDonald’s here. They have long hours, poor pay (even for teenagers) and the management isn’t very good. Other people’s kids that have worked there over the years said it’s not unusual for the high school kids to be working to midnight on school nights…um, nope. There is a local bagel place that I keep telling the kids to apply to though, super management, great hours, etc. but they haven’t done that either. They do have a job in the summer already and that is really all their schedule can handle so that’s ok too.</p>

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<p>It was a Major test, one of three in this six week period.</p>

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<p>Oh my God. Major thunderstorm here and one of the kids starts the shower. They couldn’t understand why I flipped out and told them to tell whichever sibling NO shower right now. Two of them will be off to college in the next few years (D13, S14). How can they possibly not know this??? Sigh…</p>

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<p>^It sounds crazy until you have lightening strike your house. I have had a neighbor and a sister in law with homes that were struck by lightening. In the case of the neighbor it actually hit a tree outside the window, then came inside the house and smoked their TV.</p>

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<p>I’m not sure what Toy Story 3 is about, but it sounds like it is quite the tearjerker. Not quite the same vein, but the song that always has gotten me, every single time I listen to it, is Child of Mine, by Carole King. Just try to listen to it without tears.</p>

<p>[Mary</a> Cassatt (Child of Mine) - YouTube](<a href=“Mary Cassatt (Child of Mine) - YouTube”>Mary Cassatt (Child of Mine) - YouTube)</p>

<p>anniezz- so sorry to hear about your D. Injuries are never good, but what terrible timing. Make sure she doesn’t read or watch tv, and you may want to keep her from school tomorrow. She really needs to rest her brain, preferably in a place that’s not overly bright and sunny. I would definitely not rush into anything, and I wouldn’t want her playing this weekend, no matter how mad she gets at you. Does your school do the Impact testing? </p>

<p>As far as the grades of fellow students, no one at his school seems to care, and I have never heard him mention anything about that, but he does care about his own grades, which is all that matters, and all that he has control of. We do live in laid-back Hippy town, however, its quite a different culture here than other areas I have been. </p>

<p>I would love DS to get a job this summer, but he will be gone sporadically throughout the summer at different camps, so it makes it hard. He may be able to work with our neighbor, who is a contractor, doing some scut work. Embarrassingly, he makes fairly good spending money as a ticket scalper; he started doing that a few years ago. I don’t know what that says about future career prospects. I do think all kids should have a service type of job,though, be it restaurant, cleaning, etc., for the experience of working hard, and also learning to respect people who do those kinds of jobs their entire lives. The summer I graduated I worked at Arby’s (have never eaten there again in 30 years), and the year after I worked as a cleaning person at an assisted living facility. Lets just say that older men get a lot worse at missing the toilet than teenage boys. I think that job kept me from dropping out of school.</p>

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<p>wrldtrvler, in ToyStory3, Andy is getting ready to go off to college and deciding what to do with all the toys. It is an absolute tearjerker, especially for a family that “grew up” with Andy and is going through a similar experience.</p>

<p>I never thought about showering in a thunderstorm. hmmmm.</p>

<p>DD seems to doing pretty well, but she’s going to be out of sports for a while, and I’m thinking of keeping her home to rest her brain tomorrow. Fingers crossed that this is minor. We have impact testing - she has a base line and we’re supposed to retake it in a few days. The school is really on top of this now - 2 kids in DD’s class have dealt with post-concussive issues from 2d impacts.</p>

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<p>Evening all! I’ve been offline for a few days & boy have you been busy :)</p>

<p>Congrats on elected offices & great testing & good sports results. Hugs for concussions & bad tests & general teenage angst. </p>

<p>The last day of school was today so D2 is offI icially a rising senior! She is so happy to be done. As for val/sal & ranking, our school is doesn’t seem to be competitive and have students gaming the GPA’s like you’re talking about here. The kids have an idea of who the top 25 are because they have a Top 100 Luncheon for the school each spring; obviously if you’re invited to that you know that you’re in the top 5-10% (class is about 450 students.) They don’t tell the val & sal who they are until the day that Spring exams end which is about 4 days before graduation. I think they give the top 5 a heads up a week or two earlier since they need to start thinking about a speech. My kids knew the val(s) pretty well in 2010 & 2011 and they just didn’t/wouldn’t have made all those adjustments just to be named Val and make a speech. I asked who the val & sal were for this year and there’s no chatter about it at all. I emailed the GC after school to see if she could give us a heads up on rank since a) the school does rank and b) D is hoping to get the Common App started once it’s available.</p>

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<p>Anniezz, that sounds scary though it sounds like you are on top of things. Still, sorry you all have to go through it. </p>

<p>Re val drama: no rank or val/sal here. I’m relieved bc they’re competitive enough already. Really don’t need that on top of it. </p>

<p>Pretending I don’t know that SAT scores come out tomorrow as part of my ongoing effort to appear low key. Problem is that sweet S is legitimately clueless and won’t remember until he gets to school and some pressure cooker peer asks him his scores. I guess he can look them up then and I can wait the extra six hours for him to tell me. Or eight hours. Wish he hadnt changed his collegeboard password. Anyone know how to hack in? And how unethical is that? Is it bad that I need to even ask that?</p>