High School class of 2011

[agnes!]

Congrats to all who have graduated so far, are there any left who have not graduated yet? It's so hard for me to believe DS has graduated and now we are on to the anticipation of the next event, which will be moving to college. He will move in August 18th, but we won't find out who his roomate is until July. I hope everyone is having a Great summer so far.

Yes, DD doesn't graduate until next Friday, the rest of school is in session until June 21st.

agnes!

 

[MichelleVW]

My DD graduated last Thursday and will be attending college orientation tomorrow!! I can't get off work, so DH is going to be taking her. I don't know if she's more excited or nervous!

 

[geffric]

? It's so hard for me to believe DS has graduated and now we are on to the anticipation of the next event, which will be moving to college. He will move in August 18th, but we won't find out who his roomate is until July. I hope everyone is having a Great summer so far.

DS is starting freshman week 8/18 too..

Now we need to decide linens, shower caddy, wastepaper basket, eggshell thing for the bed, what clothes to take and tubbies, laptop, school ID and account, banking, etc..

 

[minkydog]

My dd also got her room assignment and is in a triple room with 2 other girls. She contacted them both on facebook and it turns out that the 2 girls are best friends with each other....which should be interesting....dd thinks it is terrible and honestly so do I but I keep telling her it could be a good thing, just wait and see, etc... I also hope she finds some good friends at school! Our orientation is June 23-24.

Ugh. Three girls to a room almost never works out well. Especially when two of them have already bonded. It can easily degenerate into 2 against 1. I wish her the best, but I think I would be trying to change my assignment.

ETA: I grew up with 3 sisters and a brother. We slept 3-4 girls to a bedroom. Mostly we got along, but it was not an infrequent occurance that 2 would gang up on the other 1 or 2. Too many kids in a room.

 

[Planogirl]

DS graduated last Saturday and is for now idle. This is not good! Hopefully, he'll find something to do soon.

He will attend community college (a good one) for a bit in the Fall and then shift over to UNT later on. I might get him to start the second summer session if he can't find work or something!

By the way, I didn't cry. I cried at kindergarden, 5th grade and middle school graduation but I held it together for this one somehow.

 

[bethbuchall]

Congrats to all who have graduated so far, are there any left who have not graduated yet? It's so hard for me to believe DS has graduated and now we are on to the anticipation of the next event, which will be moving to college. He will move in August 18th, but we won't find out who his roomate is until July. I hope everyone is having a Great summer so far.

Graduation here isn't until June 25th.

Tomorrow night is the Senior Orchestra concert. Each senior in the orchestra picks a song to play, and they always end with Time to Say Goodbye. I will definitely be tearing up. I know that one girl's pick is I'll Be Home for Christmas. That and Time to Say Goodbye will do me in for sure.

 

[kbeverina]

My son doesn't graduate until a week from Saturday. I know it's killing him that most of the kids on his USC facebook page have already graduated and he still has all this work to do. Huge paper finished up yesterday and two exams tomorrow. Two exams and a porfolio next week.

He still hasn't heard back from his roommate. A lot of kids who got that dorm were trying to switch out and I'm wondering if that's the case here. Orientation is the 27th of June and move in is 13 August.

 

[mrsmom]

My ds graduated last Thursday day and we are going to orientation July 25th and they move in August 15th , He his nervous but very excited. He is staying in the dorms , he is my first to be away from home so it alittle sad for us.
But i have to get use to it because my other dd graduates next year and she plans on going away too and then i will only have one at home. But hey we are going to Disney because that were her chose to go for his trip!

 

[disykat]

Graduation is tonight here. I thought I was doing great, but I woke up, thought "graduation is today" and promptly burst into tears. Doesn't bode well for tonight - no mascara for me!

 

[bethbuchall]

Graduation is tonight here. I thought I was doing great, but I woke up, thought "graduation is today" and promptly burst into tears. Doesn't bode well for tonight - no mascara for me!

I hope that it's wonderful! I'll be teary at the senior concert tonight, so I'm right along with you. I'm hoping that I can hold it together in public.

 

[j's m]

By the way, I didn't cry. I cried at kindergarden, 5th grade and middle school graduation but I held it together for this one somehow.

Please share how you didn't cry. My DS doesn't graduate for another year, and I am tearing up reading these posts. I've cried for every graduation so far.

 

[ctinct]

Daughter doesn't graduate until the 27th. Prom is tomorrow. They had booked the prom location a few years ago before the school calendar was set, and once the calendar came out, if there had been no snow days, prom would have been two days AFTER graduation. She doesn't have many class days left, though. Her grades excuse her from finals, and they had early dismissal today due to the heat.

She is worried about her speech for graduation. She is the salutatorian, and was just told to write a welcome speech. No other guidance. Geez, after you say "welcome" , what else is there to say?

 

[armomof3lvsdisney]

Daughter doesn't graduate until the 27th. Prom is tomorrow. They had booked the prom location a few years ago before the school calendar was set, and once the calendar came out, if there had been no snow days, prom would have been two days AFTER graduation. She doesn't have many class days left, though. Her grades excuse her from finals, and they had early dismissal today due to the heat.

She is worried about her speech for graduation. She is the salutatorian, and was just told to write a welcome speech. No other guidance. Geez, after you say "welcome" , what else is there to say?

DS was also salutatorian and had to give the welcome speech and that was all he was told. No guidance at all. So he welcomed everyone and then he addressed his class very briefly about their future and basically how to go out and do their best (not in those words). He kept it very short. In the first part he welcomed parents, friends, administration, faculty, school board members and special guests. Then he addressed the class. And then he in closing said something like again the we would like to welcome you to the insert school name class of 2011 graduation. I can't remember exactly how he worded it and I don't have the video back yet. But if you would like I can ask him. I was so nervous for him but he did a great job and you DD will too.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

I hope her speech goes well. Can she talk to the 10 senior who did it? Maybe they could give her some thoughts to get her started.

Sad news at our house - DS and his girlfriend have broken up. They were together from freshmen year. We all loved her. They were going to the same college. Now he is second guessing his school choice! I am glad he has time to think about it but gosh I thought we were all happy and done. You just never know what will be the next thing? If you are the praying kind please pray he ends up at the right school! Thanks!

 

[disykat]

At our school, there are always several valedictorians and salutatorians. They write joint speeches. Our salutatorians did the welcome speech and my first thought was that I'd love to have their script to post here! After they welcomed everyone, they took their graduation caps off, put on mouse ears and used words from Disney movies to sort of sum up their school experience and give advice for the future. They did a great job!

 

[ctinct]

Sigh. I know this is a good problem to have, but I wonder if there are any tax experts/accountants out there who can help us.

My daughter got what I consider to be really good aid from her school. Almost her entire need was met, in contrast to some other schools which left gaps of over $10000. My efc this year is pretty hefty because the school calculates my efc using both my alimony and child care, which both end this year. I understand and accept that. I am responsible for paying the efc amount no matter how much scholarship money she wins. My dd's loans are not even the max allowed ($5500 I think for freshmen, right?), so that is another good thing.

So what's the problem, you're thinking. Well, d has done very well in the local scholarship area. I think her total so far is around 9 or 10 grand, and she has an interview as a finalist for another one, along with the possibility for several more that have not yet announced winners. In addition, I know she will receive another one at graduation based on her class rank--just not sure how much that one will be. So, naturally, all scholarships are reportable to her college. They will take scholarships first off of her loans, which means she will have no loans for her first year. Yeah! Next to go will be her work-study. That will be gone, too. I'm not sure if they will let her use some of her scholarship funds to cover her unmet need. After that, they start deducting from her institutional grant. (She has a renewable $25000 yearly scholarship from the school which will not be impacted at all.) I don't want to seem ungrateful, but is there a way to LEGALLY and ETHICALLY save some of her scholarship money for her sophomore year? my guess is maybe there is a legal way, but perhaps not an ethical way, since I must report all scholarship money to the college. I'm not sure I could wait and report it the SECOND year rather than this year.

Please, I know how incredibly lucky (not to mention hard-working and smart) she is to be awarded all this money. It just seems kind of counter-productive to replace her grant with scholarship money. (Obviously, the college will not see it that way. They will see it as saving their money and possibly being able to award it to someone else). I'm even wondering if she should politely decline some of the scholarships, with an explanation, and ask that the organizations award the money to someone it will have a real financial bonus to.

BTW, at least two of the scholarship providers "sort of" understand the issue with scholarships. There were three winners of one particular scholarship from our credit union, and at the dinner the woman in charge took them aside and told them the money would be deposited to their accounts so they could do "whatever they wanted to with it. Wink, wink." She actually said the wink, wink part. Another organization, in their notification letter, said that they understood that scholarships often do impact institutional aid, and for this reason, they would not disburse the funds until the semester has started and tuition has been paid. I guess they think that by doing this the student will not lose anything, but for us , it won't be the case, since I am still bound to report the funds. Any advice?

 

[cruisnfamily]

Wow, I understand your dilemma about the scholarship money. I didn't know it worked that way with scholarship money. Perhaps it's because you have a grant. I hope you get it worked out in everybody's favor!

My DD got $2,000 in scholarship money which is being forwarded directly to her school. I am assuming this just comes right off my bill and now you've got me worried that it will somehow reduce the $3500 subsidized student loan that we've already accepted. I hope not!



So what do you guys think, should we have the OP change the title of this thread? Have we now become the "College Freshman Class of 2011" instead of the "High School Class of 2011"?

 

[ctinct]

Wow, I understand your dilemma about the scholarship money. I didn't know it worked that way with scholarship money. Perhaps it's because you have a grant. I hope you get it worked out in everybody's favor!

My DD got $2,000 in scholarship money which is being forwarded directly to her school. I am assuming this just comes right off my bill and now you've got me worried that it will somehow reduce the $3500 subsidized student loan that we've already accepted. I hope not!



So what do you guys think, should we have the OP change the title of this thread? Have we now become the "College Freshman Class of 2011" instead of the "High School Class of 2011"?

Different schools apply outside scholarships different ways. You could probably find out how your school works it by checking the financial aid/scholarship page on your school's website. I had to dig a little, but the info was there. I'm pretty sure that very few, if any, schools deduct it off your EFC (that is what we are expected to pay), but if you have any unfunded gap, maybe they will take it from there. For example, let's say school costs $28500. You have a $3500 sub. loan, a 2000 unsub loan (both of which are considered aid), a school grant of say $15000, leaving $8000 to cover. If your efc is $5000, that still leaves you with an unfunded $3000 "gap", The best scenario would be that the school takes that $2000 outside scholarship and applies it to your gap, but they might not necessarily do that. They *may* reduce your student's loans first, which is good for your child, but not so good for you.

 

[geffric]

So what do you guys think, should we have the OP change the title of this thread? Have we now become the "College Freshman Class of 2011" instead of the "High School Class of 2011"?

ok with me.. but is it 2011/2012???

I'll wait for some more people to voice oppinionz before I do anthing..

 

[ctinct]

Would College Class of '15 work? or College/First year or Freshmen? I think most of our kids can now say they are the class of '15 now rather than the class of '11. Although, sadly, not mine yet. Still a few more weeks to go.