Andy and I went to the secondary school awards night last night with our son. Grade 9 has been an incredible year for him. He's blossoming in all ways. Still pretty much his own cat, but he's sticking with karate and participated all year in the Third World Awareness group. Academically he has excelled. We always knew he was smart. It's like the secondary environment allowed him to be offically recognized for it.
The school is liberal with awards. Out of 1750 students, 1110 received awards. About 400 kids actually showed up. Our boy won three awards: service, work habits and honour roll. He felt really proud. So did we. He knows we're proud of him everyday, whether he gets an award or not, but getting the awards is pretty special and feels very good.
We saw some amazing high achievers - kids with 99.6% averages in International Baccalaureate programs, grade 12s with scholarships (Harvard, Berkeley School of Music). I think part of our son's success this year is that our local school is an IB school, and attracts smart, non-typical kids from far and wide. The environment is less cliquey and more accommodating of kids who march to the beat of their own drummer. Last night it felt like being smart is actually cool. In secondary I struggled with being smart and even did some things of which I am not proud. (eg I skipped school the afternoon of the awards assembly in grade 12 and was noticeably absent when awarded the top academic student award for the school. I felt so bad I apologized to the principal the next day but still I think about it.) Anyway, I'm glad that so many kids are smart and good workers, and our kid is one of them, and at least 400 of them think that smart is cool and awards are not too geeky to accept.
Daughter's awards assemblies are next week - one for athletics, one for academic/service. She knows she's getting an athletic pin, and I'm pretty sure she's on the smart list.
We're pretty lucky - smart kids well-served by good schools. We show up for the awards. Recognition is good.
Question: 99.6%???
mompoet - 100% happy
No comments:
Post a Comment