Another school year is over: 7, 11, and 12 are the grades our kids will start in the fall. It was a good year, both in terms of kids balancing activities, school, and hobbies and in terms of academic achievements. They learned, they became more responsible, they became more mature. Our youngest adjusted to the middle school (although, after initial excitement, she really missed her elementary school and not having to run around from class to class). Our older daughter worked hard in her classes and started competing for the dive team and the envirothon team. Our oldest was juggling running, work, orchestra, and schoolwork (including his hardest class to date, AP Physics).
And yes, we now have a high school senior. I am semi-excited and semi-apprehensive. He is interested in airspace engineering. He has a pretty good idea about where he wants to apply and he is planning to work on the essays + applications this summer. I am trying to gauge how much support he is going to need (I asked him and he said he would let me know). E is also going to have a heavy classwork load next year. On one hand, I am so excited about E exploring what comes next and dreaming big. On the other hand, I am a little anxious about all the stress and all the complexities of college applications and senior year.
I didn't realize that senior portraits are taken the summer before 12th grade. I actually thought that the email from the photo place was a phishing email and I texted a couple of acquiaintances about it - and it turned out that yes, this wasa real thing, and I better register...
When you were in high school, did you have any idea about what you wanted to do?
Yes, yes I did. Foreign languages was “the way out” of Russia so I was all in. There was no such thing as “we’ll let me take the year off, let me go do pottery classes to find myself, let me go on a retreat and live with the goats in the mountains.” No.
ReplyDeleteYou graduate high school and hopefully, hopefully get accepted into a university for a free seat (I didn’t) or you find money and go to a paid seat and keep grinding until you get that degree (5years) and get the hell out.
What young people do these days boggles my mind. But then again, what do I know. I am a 45 year old immigrant who had to grind her way through life. My own kids will be just fine whether they are going for engineering or making clay pots at their university.
Dasha
You've got a powerful story. You must have been a very driven teen!
DeleteHa - live with goats in the mountains, indeed.
First generation kids of immigrants often have very strong work ethics. They absorb it from the parents.
Kids grow up fast, eh? I can see how it is exciting and terrifying all at once. (My niece and nephew are 16 and 17 now and it’s exciting to see where life will take them).
ReplyDeleteI thought I was going to be a teacher (like both my parents) when I was in highschool. I didn’t really have the “imagination” to dream bigger… until I moved to the US and became a scientist instead :)