about a certificate from the President to "top 100 students"

[4nana]

I believe the Presidential Academic Award began in the 80'ies - as stated earlier, there are thousands chosen. Hope I don't seem bragg'ish ~
3 of our children received PAA upon HS graduation for being in the Top 5-10 students of their class....so it's been around a long time . Several of our grands have since been honored to receive PAA upon 5th and 8th graduation also.

Congrats to mrsv98's DD (cute pix ) and others who've earned this prestigious honor for their hard work and efforts.
The best is yet to come!!!

 

[DebbieB]

It is for a high GPA, high test scores and recommendation of the teacher. The certificate is really nice and is hand signed in certain areas, but I really don't think President Obama personally signed it! Also, it is not for the "Top 100" kids, I think it is more in the thousands!

They have a machine that "hand signs". Can you imagine the President sitting in the Oval Office signing certificate after certficate.....

 

[happygirl]

Why do we have to find fault in people's "bragging"? Perhaps she was mistaken. It wasn't like she lied. Her niece did receive the award. How about a congratulations rather than a let me find out if this is true. This seems to be a thing of late. Other people putting down parents when they want to say how proud they are of their children. My DD just received her report card yesterday. She got 2 A +'s and 4 A's. The A was her lowest grade. Another parent, who was rightfully proud of her DD, came over and said "Sally got 4 A's and 2 B's how did your DD do?" So, I told her. She then became upset and stormed away. A co worker of mine has a son a few years older than my DD. She asked how my DD did. I told her and she said, "those aren't real grades anyway." Really??? I told her they most certainly are. My DD works her butt off and consistently brings home 100's.

Why do people feel the need to minimize accomplishments?

I agree Why can't we just say congrats, Instead of trying to prove the person wrong??

 

[Parkers_girl]

I received one of those awards back in 1996 when I graduated from 5th grade. I don't remember what the actual title of the certificate was but I remember it being based on academic achievement and that it was signed by President Clinton. I was one of maybe 5 students that received the award.

 

[moon]

Why do we have to find fault in people's "bragging"? Perhaps she was mistaken. It wasn't like she lied. Her niece did receive the award. How about a congratulations rather than a let me find out if this is true. This seems to be a thing of late. Other people putting down parents when they want to say how proud they are of their children. My DD just received her report card yesterday. She got 2 A +'s and 4 A's. The A was her lowest grade. Another parent, who was rightfully proud of her DD, came over and said "Sally got 4 A's and 2 B's how did your DD do?" So, I told her. She then became upset and stormed away. A co worker of mine has a son a few years older than my DD. She asked how my DD did. I told her and she said, "those aren't real grades anyway." Really??? I told her they most certainly are. My DD works her butt off and consistently brings home 100's.

Why do people feel the need to minimize accomplishments?

I thnk it's only normal that when someones makes such a huge claim people are going to wonder. Besides, I'd never heard of such award, so I wanted to know if such thing even existed, so I asked.

I never thought I'd offend anyone by asking this question

 

[RitaE]

I thnk it's only normal that when someones makes such a huge claim people are going to wonder. Besides, I'd never heard of such award, so I wanted to know if such thing even existed, so I asked.

I never thought I'd offend anyone by asking this question

I'm offended that I never got a Top 100 award even though I was on the Honor Roll. I demand my certificate!!!!!

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

Am I the only one who thinks it could be a scam? That's the first thing I thought. You know how much deceptive junk comes in the mail. I have never heard of the Top 100, don't think that could even be compiled. I mean, who was number 1? You know. It just sounds weird. As long as they don't ask for money for some sort of "official" trophy or to be places in a fancy book or something, I guess it's ok.

 

[ccgirl]

I thnk it's only normal that when someones makes such a huge claim people are going to wonder. Besides, I'd never heard of such award, so I wanted to know if such thing even existed, so I asked.

I never thought I'd offend anyone by asking this question

Maybe it is "normal" that some people wonder. Not me, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and congratulate them. As you have found, it really is such an award. It's not for the top 100 in the country but it is for students that are very high academic achievers.

 

[m&m's mom]

Heck! Color me as someone who would cry "bull" too.
It's just like a daily Christmas Brag Letter. Those are bad enough one time a year.

 

[moon]

I'm offended that I never got a Top 100 award even though I was on the Honor Roll. I demand my certificate!!!!!

Maybe whoever was the president when you were in school was a lazy bum who thought he had better things to do than personally sign hundreds of certificates for the deserving children of the nation! The nerve!

Am I the only one who thinks it could be a scam? That's the first thing I thought. You know how much deceptive junk comes in the mail. I have never heard of the Top 100, don't think that could even be compiled. I mean, who was number 1? You know. It just sounds weird. As long as they don't ask for money for some sort of "official" trophy or to be places in a fancy book or something, I guess it's ok.

Could be, but I doubt it. I bet it is the award others have posted about and pictured in one of the posts (and yes mrsv98, your DD is a cutie!).

Like I said, I don't know if this lady was "embellishing" or just confused, and I have no idea if the kid's mother told her the story as she posted on her FB

 

[goofy!]

I thnk it's only normal that when someones makes such a huge claim people are going to wonder. Besides, I'd never heard of such award, so I wanted to know if such thing even existed, so I asked.

I never thought I'd offend anyone by asking this question

There are a ton of academic awards out there. I highly doubt one person can be familiar with them all.

DS received an academic all-American award upon graduation that truly only 1,000 high school seniors received in the country. Nobody made a big deal of it even though there were only about 5 in the state that received it. Certainly didn't make any newspapers

There very well might be an academic award out there that the President signs, even for 6th grade. I know there were a few national academic contests,mostly writing, in DS's middle school last year that only a handful in the country won. It could have easily been the top 100 essays selected. And one of them did receive a signed certificate from the White House.

Here is an award given by Bush that looks like there are only about 100 winners in the country:
http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/education/art_essay_contest/2011-art_essay_winners.pdf

Trying to refute the mother's claim just sounds like jealousy.

 

[moon]

Maybe it is "normal" that some people wonder. Not me, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and congratulate them.

Well good for you!

You've won a cookie!

As you have found, it really is such an award. It's not for the top 100 in the country but it is for students that are very high academic achievers.

As I found out, there is NO such award. She posted the the child has received a personally signed award for being one of the top 100 students in the country.

That's not what happened at all

 

[moon]

Trying to refute the mother's claim just sounds like jealousy.

I wrote that it wasn't the mother who made the claim, it was a great aunt....and I'm not jealous, believe it of not.

 

[ccgirl]

DD received the President's Award for Academic Excellence this year:

It is for a high GPA, high test scores and recommendation of the teacher. The certificate is really nice and is hand signed in certain areas, but I really don't think President Obama personally signed it! Also, it is not for the "Top 100" kids, I think it is more in the thousands!

Well good for you!

You've won a cookie!

As I found out, there is NO such award. She posted the the child has received a personally signed award for being one of the top 100 students in the country.

That's not what happened at all

No need to get snarky. I wasn't looking to win anything. Again, the award itself is real. The Aunt thinking that only the top 100 students in the country got it was wrong. Perhaps the child's mom told her the wrong thing or was told the wrong thing herself. As far as it being a personally signed award, as the above post indicates the award is personally signed in certain places. While that poster didn't believe (and was probably right) that it wasn't personally signed by Obama himself maybe the person that posted on facebook did, indeed, think it was his signature??

In any case, I don't think it negates the true accomlishment of all those that received the award. I'm sure it's a very small percentage of students that get it and kudos to them!

 

[goofy!]

I wrote that it wasn't the mother who made the claim, it was a great aunt....and I'm not jealous, believe it of not.

Ok, refuting the great aunt claim. Sorry, but the snarky way you are staunchly denying the great aunt's claim still sounds like jealousy.

BTW - I just added this link to my previous post, but will add it here too.

Here is an academic essay award given out by President Bush that looks like there are only 100 recipients a year:

http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/education/art_essay_contest/2011-art_essay_winners.pdf

And they are signed by President Bush.

There are plenty of academic awards out there and rarely does anybody care about them other than the parents. They certainly wouldn't make the paper.

 

[moon]

No need to get snarky. I wasn't looking to win anything. Again, the award itself is real. The Aunt thinking that only the top 100 students in the country got it was wrong. Perhaps the child's mom told her the wrong thing or was told the wrong thing herself. As far as it being a personally signed award, as the above post indicates the award is personally signed in certain places. While that poster didn't believe (and was probably right) that it wasn't personally signed by Obama himself maybe the person that posted on facebook did, indeed, think it was his signature??

In any case, I don't think it negates the true accomlishment of all those that received the award. I'm sure it's a very small percentage of students that get it and kudos to them!

Sorry for the snark, I was just responding your (IMO) snarkiness and hostity towards me.

And I did say that getting the award, as it is, is a great acomplishment and something to be very proud of. OK?

PEACE

 

[ccgirl]

To the doubters, here is a link to information about the award:

http://www2.ed.gov/programs/presedaward/index.html

 

[okeydokey]

Both of my dd's got something from the president at their grade school graduations. I just went to see if I could find them but I can't Anyway, there were for academic excellence or something. I don't recall anything about top 100, about 20 kids or more in their school alone got them.


Can I add I hate those braggy FB posts? I know sometimes you're just so proud of your kid that you can burst but I have some friends that list every report card grade. Ughh. Really?

Mine too, but nothing about just 100 kids. It was a presidential achievement award and came with a little blurb that the principal read out loud.

 

[eliza61]

Why do we have to find fault in people's "bragging"? Perhaps she was mistaken. It wasn't like she lied. Her niece did receive the award. How about a congratulations rather than a let me find out if this is true. This seems to be a thing of late. Other people putting down parents when they want to say how proud they are of their children. My DD just received her report card yesterday. She got 2 A +'s and 4 A's. The A was her lowest grade. Another parent, who was rightfully proud of her DD, came over and said "Sally got 4 A's and 2 B's how did your DD do?" So, I told her. She then became upset and stormed away. A co worker of mine has a son a few years older than my DD. She asked how my DD did. I told her and she said, "those aren't real grades anyway." Really??? I told her they most certainly are. My DD works her butt off and consistently brings home 100's.

Why do people feel the need to minimize accomplishments?

I agree Why can't we just say congrats, Instead of trying to prove the person wrong??

+1

Whats crazy we then turn around and complain about "todays kids". So we're not happy when we hear about kids doing well and then we're not happy when we hear about kids doing bad? Go figure.

What's the old saying " It's easier to criticize than to congratulate"

 

[melmar136]

DD received the President's Award for Academic Excellence this year:

It is for a high GPA, high test scores and recommendation of the teacher. The certificate is really nice and is hand signed in certain areas, but I really don't think President Obama personally signed it! Also, it is not for the "Top 100" kids, I think it is more in the thousands!

Very cute pic! I had to show it to my DD who just got the same thing at her 6th grade "graduation". She said, "hey! that looks just like mine!" It was explained to us that it was for kids who had an A- or better average in all classes from 4th through 6th grade. 10 kids out of her grade (of 61 kids) received it, so as many have said, no, it's not just for 100 in the US. She told me about it beforehand, and I had no idea it was really a "president's award" until I saw it, and said, "hey, is that Obama's "signature"?"