Parents of the High School Class of 2017/College 2021

[J'aime Paris]

It's been a busy few weeks!

DD had scholarship awards night (she received $1600)
and Senior Ball
Graduation was Sunday June 4th. I was very emotional the days leading up to graduation day, but then held it together pretty well. It was a beautiful day and DH, myself and the grandparents enjoyed the ceremony.

DD finds out her dorm assignment this Friday.
Family and Student Orientation and registration for classes at Marquette is next Thurs/Fri for us.

DD really likes her job as a beverage cart girl! Plus she's been mowing our lawn for extra cash (we have a large yard needing a riding lawn mower and it takes several hours). Combining this summer's money with the money she saved from her nanny job last summer, and she will have plenty of spending money.

We are in the middle of multiple bathroom remodels in our home, so I couldn't even think of a party until those are complete.
Grad party will be July 16th.

Planning a Mall of America trip sometime this summer.

Freshman move in is August 23rd.
I know the date will sneak up unbelievably fast, so I plan to enjoy as much time as possible with DD before we become empty nesters...

 

[yeahdisney]

Tomorrow is registation day. I added DD to our visa. We were able to get her a State Farm student visa in her name only. Spending money she has money of her own that she has hoarded since freshman year, she does not spend a lot. She has the 2 meal a day plan, she normally eats vey little for breakfast, so prob eat that in her room for AM.
Going to look down there tomorrow for possibly for a bank down there or our bank offers a debit card.
No job freshman year unless someone requests a babysitter on occasion, or unless something falls into her lap.
Graduation party is July 4th. Her aunt is going to take her twice to Target to buy all personal and room needs then once for school supplies.

 

[yeahdisney]

We actually went yesterday. My thread did not post the day before. We both had speakers in A M. Lunch. Then she registered, she has at least 2 8am classes, which she says will be fine. For HS she had two organizations that had required her to be at school a few days a week for 7 AM , one of the 8am classes in 8 weeks long no credit but required to grad. She has 16 credits, two are single credits tha are for class/meeting that discuss her math and science classes, a program that she was offered to join due to her ACT score.

I went back to see her dorm room and I stopped to speak with billing, I will not be able to see/ pay bill until July 15th.
Signed her up for a Bank debit card, I saw it late last night a nearby town has that branch.
She dropped off her physical and they want to know which type meningitis shot she got. She will find that out today.
She dropped off a check from an organization to add to her account there.
She got her ID card.

She has to take a third year of Spanish which I knew going in, Kinaa think she was in denial about that. I told her the school required wto years of foreign language to get in but required three years to graduate From there.

And we picked her computer , we are going to go with a Dell. They were out of it in stock so we are Going to order it online.
We felt like we got a lot done. I was surprised I only meet families from IL yesterday.

 

[aprilgail]

Tonight is senior awards so we will find out how many scholarships she got- on Tuesday she got one for 250.00 from the Masons- she has another one coming from the Masons that we don't know how much it is for yet. Two more weeks of school after this and then its over. I can't believe we got her college schedule when she has not even finished with high school yet! My friends daughter actually has college orientation next week which is totally insane being high school is not even over yet!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We actually went yesterday. My thread did not post the day before. We both had speakers in A M. Lunch. Then she registered, she has at least 2 8am classes, which she says will be fine. For HS she had two organizations that had required her to be at school a few days a week for 7 AM , one of the 8am classes in 8 weeks long no credit but required to grad. She has 16 credits, two are single credits tha are for class/meeting that discuss her math and science classes, a program that she was offered to join due to her ACT score.

I went back to see her dorm room and I stopped to speak with billing, I will not be able to see/ pay bill until July 15th.
Signed her up for a Bank debit card, I saw it late last night a nearby town has that branch.
She dropped off her physical and they want to know which type meningitis shot she got. She will find that out today.
She dropped off a check from an organization to add to her account there.
She got her ID card.

She has to take a third year of Spanish which I knew going in, Kinaa think she was in denial about that. I told her the school required wto years of foreign language to get in but required three years to graduate From there.

And we picked her computer , we are going to go with a Dell. They were out of it in stock so we are Going to order it online.
We felt like we got a lot done. I was surprised I only meet families from IL yesterday.

We go 6/16 for registration. What residence hall is she staying in? My daughter will be in Allen Hall / Unit One and she's a bit worried about being stuck with too many 8 am classes since she's not registering until 6/16.

 

[robinb]

Tonight is senior awards so we will find out how many scholarships she got- on Tuesday she got one for 250.00 from the Masons- she has another one coming from the Masons that we don't know how much it is for yet. Two more weeks of school after this and then its over. I can't believe we got her college schedule when she has not even finished with high school yet! My friends daughter actually has college orientation next week which is totally insane being high school is not even over yet!

Good luck to your DD! Will Northeastern subtract her other scholarships from her offer or does she get to keep it all?

 

[aprilgail]

Good luck to your DD! Will Northeastern subtract her other scholarships from her offer or does she get to keep it all?

I called them and asked that question and they said the only way it would effect her financial aid is that if she got more in scholarships than the cost of our portion of college- which I am sure it won't. Plus all the local school ones are made out directly to her, not the college so really unless we said something they wouldn't even have any idea she got them. People were telling me that whatever she got in scholarships just came off the financial aid so it didn't even matter if she got any so I called the school and asked them to get a for sure answer!

 

[bethbuchall]

DD graduated today. Thankfully the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was a beautiful ceremony with lots of smiles and some tears too! DD has been at this school since 7th grade and there are only 59 girls in her class, so they've become a very close knit community.

I'm so glad that the weather worked out for you. Congratulations!

DS graduated today. Hard to believe it's over and he's leaving for Penn State in 2 weeks!

Congratulations! That comes up soon!

 

[mamacatnv]

Congrats to you all! So many celebrations, scholarships, awards and achievements! We have a great bunch of young adults represented here.

Graduation was this past Saturday night. DD received several acknowledgments and had an assortment of bling hanging around her neck.
We all had fun looking thru the legend on the program to decipher the various bling the kids were sporting, it helped to pass the time.

My Dad flew in from Oregon and my DS and his Girlfriend flew in from Nevada. My Dad has recently reconciled with my family and this was the first time he has come to visit in 25 years. It was a nice visit.
I had a house full but we had a good time, thank goodness for AeroBeds, those things are awesome!
Everyone departed Monday, DD headed off to her summer job at the Girl Scout camp and I spent Tuesday on the couch in the TV room watching hours upon hours of Scandal and eating all the left over crap from the weekend.

The ceremony itself was a well oiled machine at the local event center - Each school has a 3 hour window - One hour to seat, 2 hours for the ceremony and then exit out a certain set of doors while the next group begins to arrive and line up at the other set of doors. All the graduates arrive via bus from their school, guests arrive individually. There is no limit to the number of guests. There were 5 of us but the family in front, next to and behind us was easily 30 strong - I should have hired them to cheer for my DD as they were loud and proud!

The only real issue was that my DD has a really long middle name and for some reason someone decided to shorten her middle name on her diploma and the program. I was very annoyed and have called the high school every day this week trying to figure out how to sort out and get her a corrected diploma. No one has called me back yet. Since the name cards were not correct she opted to just have her first/last name announced instead of her full name, everyone else was using full names so her announcement seemed really short, oh well, life goes on. Between all of us we got some decent photos of her getting her diploma and a nice family group shop after the ceremony, then she was off with her friends.

I loved the Costco announcements but DD didn't and we went with the traditional ones from the school (boring.......expensive and boring........).
Pretty much, if it involves a photo, she is not interested. If it involves a group activity ie prom, grad night etc., she was not interested and did not attend. I don't even have a photo of her in her cap and gown as she would not pose with the cap, she held it in her hand but would not let me photograph with it on her head. My DD is kind of a pain.

I know we are late to the party but following the fiasco of college selection this past spring that has resulted in a gap year, it is refreshing to see that DD is starting to talk about school for fall 18 and she has a completely different mindset and attitude this time around.

 

[robinb]

Great news! My DD got into her #1 dorm today! And ... she has a top floor, corner room which is bigger and has view of Bascom hill and the lake. I am so happy for her !

 

[Poohforyou]

@mamacatnv - I'm glad your daughter is in a better frame of mind and looking towards 2018. I hope she has a wonderful gap year. One of my daughter's friends is taking a gap year.

As for not participating in senior events, my daughter is right there with yours. She had thought about prom but decided the drama and such wasn't worth it. She didn't go to post prom and who knows about the senior breakfast or picnic.

She's so ready for high school to be over.

 

[mamacatnv]

@mamacatnv - I'm glad your daughter is in a better frame of mind and looking towards 2018. I hope she has a wonderful gap year. One of my daughter's friends is taking a gap year.

As for not participating in senior events, my daughter is right there with yours. She had thought about prom but decided the drama and such wasn't worth it. She didn't go to post prom and who knows about the senior breakfast or picnic.

She's so ready for high school to be over.

My DD is the same way. Don't get me wrong, she really enjoyed high school and made some amazing friends, her friends group is diverse and she loves them dearly, they are very tight and I know right now they are all in a bit of a mourning period.
She just never got into the things that most of us view as part of the high school experience, she was too busy dancing to the beat of her own drum and had no desire for mainstream high school.

DD is really looking forward to her Gap year - she is making plans for WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) she is now planning two 3 month stints, one to an east coast farm and the other in the pacific northwest. She also has decided she wants to learn to play the cello. Strings have always appealed to her but when we moved to Texas from Nevada she discovered that here it is all about marching bands, strings programs are few and far between so she will be renting a cello and taking some lessons.

 

[mamacatnv]

Spending Money while in college, this is what we did with our son:

He worked part time all the way thru college. Approx 20 hours a week during the school year and full time in the summers.
He paid for all extracurricular activities, meals not on dining plan, his books, parking pass and car insurance.

In the later years where he was not in a dorm but apartment style living, he also paid his own groceries(we periodically stocked him up) and bought his own clothes as well as paid his own gas.
It was a gradual progression of us less and him more.

 

[aprilgail]

Tonight was awards night- she got a few awards for like community service, excellence in subjects etc- also got 6 scholarships totaling 3,500.00- plus the 2 she got out of school from the Masons so far will be like another 500.00. We are pretty happy!

 

[yeahdisney]

DD will be at Newman house.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My DS graduated today (well I
guess it was yesterday since it's after midnight). Right now he's at an all-night grad party sponsored by the school. No drugs or alcohol allowed. They went by bus to an athletic club about 30 minutes away. They have games, a dance floor, a pool, and lots of food and prizes donated by local businesses. Can't wait to hear all about it. Last week he received his school's theater arts award, along with a theater arts scholarship from the high school district. Singing and acting are his favorite things to do! I'll be sad to see him leave, but I'm crazy-excited for him to start working on his BFA in Musical
Theater!

 

[robinb]

DD will be at Newman house.

Congratulations! Was that her first choice for housing? Are you Catholic or is it just super convenient?

 

[LilTinkFan]

It's PROM day! dd date has bronchitis. We're hoping he can be strong enough to stay for half of it. But it's going to be a wait and see.

Today is also last "real" day of school. Everything has to be completed and turned in today. I think she has one last final.

Next week is jam packed! Finishing with graduation ceremony. It just doesn't seem real to me.

 

[Mom3girls]

Today is our prom day too!! Then extended prom weekend in Wildwood and it looks like beautiful weather for them Next week is benchmarks (finals) and senior awards night is Wednesday. Graduation isn't until the 21st

 

[v.t.]

The only real issue was that my DD has a really long middle name and for some reason someone decided to shorten her middle name on her diploma and the program. I was very annoyed and have called the high school every day this week trying to figure out how to sort out and get her a corrected diploma. No one has called me back yet. Since the name cards were not correct she opted to just have her first/last name announced instead of her full name, everyone else was using full names so her announcement seemed really short, oh well, life goes on. Between all of us we got some decent photos of her getting her diploma and a nice family group shop after the ceremony, then she was off with her friends.

I know we are late to the party but following the fiasco of college selection this past spring that has resulted in a gap year, it is refreshing to see that DD is starting to talk about school for fall 18 and she has a completely different mindset and attitude this time around.

You sound just like me. Our school list the student's scholarships in the graduation program. For some reason, my sons' scholarships from the university were not listed, only their local ones. I was upset, but the boys reminded me I was being petty. (Who raised those kids!)
I am glad you DD is in a better mindset, looks like the gap year was the perfect decision.

Great news! My DD got into her #1 dorm today! And ... she has a top floor, corner room which is bigger and has view of Bascom hill and the lake. I am so happy for her !

Great news!

Tonight was awards night- she got a few awards for like community service, excellence in subjects etc- also got 6 scholarships totaling 3,500.00- plus the 2 she got out of school from the Masons so far will be like another 500.00. We are pretty happy!

Congratulations, she did well.

My DS graduated today (well I
guess it was yesterday since it's after midnight). Right now he's at an all-night grad party sponsored by the school. No drugs or alcohol allowed. They went by bus to an athletic club about 30 minutes away. They have games, a dance floor, a pool, and lots of food and prizes donated by local businesses. Can't wait to hear all about it. Last week he received his school's theater arts award, along with a theater arts scholarship from the high school district. Singing and acting are his favorite things to do! I'll be sad to see him leave, but I'm crazy-excited for him to start working on his BFA in Musical
Theater!

Congrats! Hope he had fun.