Parents of the HS Class of 2018 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
16101

Hey everyone!
S18 is working part time now at my youngest son’s camp. It’s only 3 days a week, but it gives structure to his days and is good for building the leadership and maturity. He’s pretty much relaxing, other than that. He will be in babysitting mode when school open houses and Pre-planning starts up in late July. Then back to school in August and then before I know it, college in late August!

@LMHS73: sorry about the car!

@VAMom23: could your son be worried about all the changes?

@SnowflakeDogMom: that’s sweet the grandfather will get to see campus!

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Awards night last night, graduation tomorrow. S18 got several departmental academic awards & a PTA scholarship, while D18 didn’t get anything, despite identical grades (0.005 difference in GPA after 4 years). I’m inclined to think the teachers expect somewhat more of girls, since all of our NMFs are girls, though perhaps D18 is seen as less involved in school activities since her focus is on dance.

Also interesting that the 4 kids with multiple departmental awards (and I think the highest overall GPAs, which is basically the number of APs taken, since quite a few have 4.0UW) are going to UCLA (x2), Berkeley and UCSD, while the 4 kids going to Stanford and MIT aren’t regarded as the smartest overall in the class. I think the UCs are quite good at ranking the class when they have approaching 100 applicants to look at, but clearly Stanford and MIT are looking for something else.

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@VAMom23 That’s hard. I’m sure things will settle down. Transitions are tough.

16104

D18 graduated a week ago and has her final vocal recital tomorrow, so that’s a wrap on HS activities! She’s started working at the local grocery store part time for the summer, with the hope that she can work there as well over winter break since winter break jobs are hard to find. She’s been setting up day trips with friends and just relaxing the rest of the time, which is a nice change of pace for her.

Orientation is Monday and Tuesday, so hopefully she’ll get the key classes she’s supposed to take fall semester. It’s tough without having AP results in hand, since I think she can place out of a few classes. I’ve suggested she take the two base classes in each of her majors, though, rather than using AP scores to test out because I want her to have a good foundation and hopefully stronger grades in first semester to start out on the right track. But, I encouraged her to also ask the advisor for guidance. They give the kids 3 hours at orientation to make their schedules.

16105

My D has graduated! Yay! H and I were overwhelmed that she was chosen by the faculty for a major award for character that was announced at the graduation ceremony. We couldn’t have wanted any recognition more.

Among the top students, instate public universities were a favorite this year and most are staying close to home.

Orientation is at the end of the month, and she’s slowly working her way through the college checklist and back to working her two summer jobs.

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@twoin18 - I think you make a very valid point. One of my DD’s closest friends was not in the top 10, she was not even in the top 10% and yet, she is at Harvard.

Don’t get me wrong, on paper she looks great but she was not the top and yet she secured some of the top offers.

16107

Graduation and party is done!! S18 has orientation next week.

Congratulations to all that have finished and hang in to those that have not.

16108

So many with the senior year done already. We are close. All the “nights” are over and only have the graduation next week, then it is truly final. DD will be glad to be out of there as am I; no school bus service to our high school, so I have been driving kids there for the past 9 years, 40 minutes round trip.

I had posted up thread that she received and award w/ an empty envelope. She found out she got a $1000, so decent award! The way the principal announced it, he stated the school was bequeathed $50,000 to be used for scholarships, so a lot of people thought she was awarded the entire amount! Good thing I didn’t think that, or we would have been very disappointed!

She has college orientation on the 20th. She was not allowed to pick her own schedule, it was done for her. Anyone else encounter this? We looked at it, and I wasn’t feeling it either. She also wants to take a minor, which she can’t do without departmental permission. I think we are going to have to put together some class schedules that she prefers so she will be ready for orientation. My oldest had her schedule picked for her as well at one of the Penn State branch campuses, couldn’t alter it, hated it, and she quit after her first year. So, a little anxious about this w/ youngest now.

16109

Graduation was very nice, S and a group of fellow seniors sang a song (dab dab at eyes).
He took pics with lots of friends.

Had a bit of a shock because his bifold diploma holder was empty, turns out they had to pick up their diplomas after the ceremony. And he did.

He has been sleeping in and playing videogames, but he got his math placement test done and orientation is next week.

He is going to meet with his advisor there and craft his first semester schedule. Most of the classes are prescribed by his major, but there are some choices. It will require some juggling time wise from what I have looked at. Hopefully no 8 am classes.

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@lovespink I think it’s so nice that your S and his 5 friends are together for the week, but taking turns staying at each of their houses. I know that I really like my D’s friends, and it makes me happy to see them all together and to hear how each of them are doing. Something like this would man a lot to me ---- nothing like hearing kids’ laughter floating up the stairs. In a way, I think what your S and his friends are doing is actually a gift to the parents. How nice!

16111

Graduation ceremony last night - it was quite moving and a lot more organized than I expected (we are at a large public school that does not exactly excel in seamless events). Although my son heartily disliked a lot of high school for a variety of reasons, he/we have known many of the kids/families since kindergarten. It was touching and enjoyable to see them all now, moving to the next phase.

Heading out for a family grad trip now. Orientation will be in July. School won’t start ‘til late September, which means we will have the chance to do some camping and take another trip (feeling pretty spoiled) in between work projects.

I wish all of you a happy summer and so
appreciate the encouragement and tips you all have offered along the way so far!!

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@laralei I am surprised she had no choices in her schedule. Is she in a major with a lot of required classes? S is being assigned an advisor to help make sure he is in track but aside from taking a required writing course freshman year, he picks classes.

16113

Just looking at this section for the first time. My daughter had her final dance recital on Saturday June 2nd at the same (non competitive) studio she has danced at since preschool. She did a tap duet with a dance teacher. She graduated on Sunday June 3rd. She has college orientation in June. I’ll go for the day time but need to leave early since my 8th grader “graduates” from k-8 that night.

At senior night dd won a few scholarships. She didn’t get any school academic awards because she did full time dual enrollment for two years. She actually won an award from the college at dual enrollment student celebration (for students from all over not just our school). However we didn’t attend and haven’t seen the award yet. It is supposed to be delivered to the high school.

She did get 3 scholarships for community service and academics from the community. They are all much appreciated. In addition she got a US Figure Skating certificate - it doesn’t mean much but I loved that her skating coach/high school math teacher (who she never had) personally presented it to her. We thought scholarships were all done but we were very pleasantly surprised at graduation when she was one of several students to get a scholarship at graduation.

My daughter is going for accounting and possibly a double major in finance. We are waiting to see what transfer credits she will get but she was assigned a schedule for now. It was kind of funny. She took a Spanish placement exam and was placed in elementary French 1. Based on prior transfers from her dual enrollment college to this college we anticipate 1.5 years of credit though some are free electives. In terms of finances I would love it if she only needs 3 years for a Bachelors but whatever happens happens. She will be doing a summer job with the city and should learn her job placement this week. You can do it for a total of 3 years - in the past she worked at the local public access tv station and tutored at the high school.

In August we are finally going on a family trip to meet some family members of my husband who live in Hungary. We get back from that and the next week school starts (high school and college). Dd will be either volunteering or teaching at summer group learn to skate (figure skating) program and skating as much as she can. She will be on a figure skating club in college. They have daily ice time 6 to 8am Monday to Thursday for no additional charge. It sounds great but I’m not sure about her ability to get up.

16114

Some general updates…

S went through housing selection and was able to secure his first choice room (a single) in his first choice dorm. He’s on the third floor, so he has a chance at a nice view of either the mountains or the city depending on which way he faces.

Albuquerque was great - again. S had a good time at orientation, made several friends including one of the sort where you exchange phone numbers. He got all of his classes, though one of the labs is at a less than optimal time. He’s #1 on the wait list for a better time slot, so that will probably resolve itself over the summer.

We did a Memorial Day campout before his orientation, and we spent two nights at the Grand Canyon afterward.

S graduated on Wednesday. His position in the procession meant he showed up in lots of local news footage, so that was fun. :slight_smile:

He starts his EMT-B classes tomorrow morning, and he’s looking forward to that. He’d been very proactive and responsible about getting his taskbook done, except for one thing. The taskbook is this 15 page booklet that lists everything he needs to finish and bring documentation thereof to the first day of class - a background check, malpractice insurance, a 4-page medical physical, two TB tests spaced a certain way, lots of immunizations, three or four online FEMA classes and probably more that I’m forgetting. Student were warned that anyone with an incomplete taskbook would be dropped immediately on day one.

The malpractice insurance was supposed to be simple. Fill out a 1-page online form, pay $20, done. Then we learned that the debit / credit card used for payment has to match the name of the applicant, which meant we couldn’t use one of our cards to pay for him. Uh oh! The taskbook never mentioned that S had to have his own bank account. Worse, we discovered this on a Saturday night.

After a false start with a campus card connected to the CC where he’ll be taking the class, we realized that the only solution would be a bank branch that was A) open on Sunday, and B) prints debit cards on-site, without having to wait a week for the card to arrive in the mail.

So 10 am this morning found us standing on the front steps of the only such institution in a 50 mile radius (US Bank, btw). Fortunately, it was only a few miles from our house. Took about 45 minutes, but S now has a bank account in his own name, a debit card and malpractice insurance. Phew!

I suppose it’s unusual for an 18 year old not to have a bank acct. but he’s never needed one before, and we’d been thinking we’d have him wait and open one in New Mexico to help with transferring his residency down the road.

Anyhow, crisis averted.

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@Momma2018 According to the portal, all freshmen have their class schedules done for them. So major wasn’t a factor at all.

I am just hoping she has the opportunity to change it up at orientation. I just want to sit down with her and go over some of the choices she could make if they let her.

Wow, @DiotimaDM what a stressful thing w/ that bank account. I can so see that being something we would run into. Good thing you found a banking institution that met your needs! All my kids have bank accounts at this point, but only one has a checking account. Though I hardly ever use checks anymore either.

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@DiotimaDM I’m glad the crisis was resolved. I guess I would have bought a prepaid CC at Walmart or something. Not sure if that would have worked. No banks open after noon on Saturday and Sunday here.

My kids have a checking account online at Capital One. I can transfer money to it.
Checks can be ordered if needed. Now that my D will pay rent, we are getting checks.

At my D’s school, chem labs/recitations are 4 hours long and there are only 3 time slots a day. 8 am, 1 pm, and 6 pm.

She had a conflict with the 1 pm time and didn’t want to be in the one that goes to 10 pm, so for one semester she was in the 8 am lab.

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@DiotimaDM S20 started his EMT-B class 2 weeks ago. I saw him printing and filling some forms and I gave him the immunization print out from the doctor’s office. I didn’t hear any mentioning of malpractice insurance though. Good thing is they don’t kick people out if you don’t have all required, such as no uniform but a plain white polo shirt.

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@whataboutcollege Interesting that the process is so different. We probably shelled out around $300 for assorted immunizations (Hep A & B, two kinds of meningitis, MMR, TDAP, flu, varicella), $65 for the physical, $148 for the two TB tests, $100 for the background check and $20 for the malpractice insurance. And that’s before we paid for the class or the textbook and access code!

Fortunately, we found out that his tuition for the class will be refunded thanks to a program that covers CC tuition for local HS grads.

S was goggle-eyed about one of the immunizations. Apparently it’s for a kind of meningitis that you can only get through contact with an infected person’s cerebro-spinal fluid. Between that and the mandatory blood borne pathogen resistant boots, S has a pretty clear idea of what he’s getting himself into!

16119

Congrats on all the graduations and awards! We hit orientation next week. Just noticed in his portal that S18 has an advisor assigned. I had planned to set up a credit union acct at his college for him, but am struggling with how much fiscal freedom to give him. His scholarship will give him excess funds, deposited directly into his account to use on books, food and personal spending. I could set up an account for him at my bank, affording me easier oversight. But I want him to learn how not to blow a budget immediately, without his parents texting him over every expense.

16120

My D had to have a bunch of stuff done for pharmacy school last summer. The insurance we had at the time paid for it all. Hep B and Varicella titer, booster shots, TB tests.

Our urgent care center charges $10 for the TB skin test. That’s where she went this year.