Glad I didn’t scare you away; I was afraid I might have.
Your first example here speaks VOLUMES about your kid. I know adults who aren’t keen to help their own family members to access a toilet, and for your kid to do that for a stranger is HUGE. It actually brought tears to my eyes reading that. And the fact that your kid can hyperfocus on doing nails with incredible designs is awesome, too.
I would love it if families on this forum would talk more about these aspects of their kids. Because frankly, this is the stuff that makes a person a good (and/or interesting) human. And nine times out of ten, if I am hiring an intern, I’d go for the kid with less than optimal grades who would help a stranger in a wheelchair to use the restroom than I would for a kid with superlative stats who would ignore someone who is visibly struggling.
For some happier reading, this thread has some additional examples of people I wish people would highlight more: Not all heroes wear capes.
I’m just going to provide another cautionary tale from real life here…not that your family would ever do this, but just something to be cognizant of.
Two siblings were very close in age, and one attended a SHYMP college (who obviously was very successful academically in high school) and the other was at a respected private regional college as a varsity athlete (and had not always excelled academically in comparison with the SHYMP sibling). One semester the family was looking at the college report cards, and the regional college kid had a better report card than the SHYMP sibling…quite possibly for the first time in life. When the regional college kid commented on this, one of the parents said something to the effect of, “How dare you compare the grades from your college to the SHYMP college. They are nothing alike.”
The scars from that conversation were deep and lasted for decades. Unsurprisingly, they definitely impacted the kid attending the regional college. They also affected the SHYMP student, too, as evidenced by the fact that when one of the SHYMP’s kids decided to go to a SAW school, the parent felt the need to talk to the family about what an impressive accomplishment it was, concerned that people might be less familiar with elite liberal arts colleges than elite research universities. The SHYMP grad was afraid that their kid would be less respected/admired by others by attending a “lesser-known” college despite the fact that this was where their child felt was the best fit.
So even when students make it into and are successful at the “higher” level (whoever determines what “higher” means), the expectations and language that are used can still cause long-lasting negative impacts on them.
This is wonderful! So many students have a love of learning squashed out of them during their schooling, so I’m delighted that your D’s love is still going strong. That love of learning will take her far in life. And knowing that she likes STEM fields can definitely help to narrow in on possible schools of interest. Looking forward to hearing how the visits to WPI and Clark go!