Monday night was another awards ceremony at the school. It's pretty bad when you have children in Elementary, Middle and High School. Seems like you're always at one event or another (or supposed to be at two at the same time).
This night was the promotion night for the 5th grade as they graduated up to Middle School. It was my daughters last night of Elementary school and there were all sorts of awards to be given out.
On a tangential note, I really want to know what's up with the school district being unable to run the HVAC system past 6:30. I would say that 80% of the programs handed out that night were being used for fanning hot faces beaded with sweat. It's getting into the humid season and it was pretty disappointing that, just as they were about to start, the AC that was blowing right over our seats shut off!
After a pomp and circumstance procession, the children were seated and the school administration made a few remarks. Maybe my daughter is just a bit advanced, but when they chose to read from a book, I was disappointed that it was a Curious George piece. Seemed a bit infantile for that age group, but again, maybe my kids are just so far ahead of everyone else...
Anyway, when it came time to hand out awards, I was quite pleased that she got awards for straight A's all year long in a number of subjects. It was even more exciting when they started to read off the children who qualified for the Presidents Academic Excellence Award.
This is no small achievement. It means that not only did she maintain an outstanding grade point average, she also did exceptionally well on the standardized testing. It comes with a certificate and letter from President Obama!
So when they announced her name, I couldn't help myself, I shouted out. The same overwhelming feeling overcame me when they read off her name and handed her the certificate of graduation.
I had my kids seated next to me all embarrassed, I had the people in the row behind me commenting, and even she gave me a kick to the shins later that night after things were over.
Let me explain something though. My personal feeling is that these are huge accomplishments. They represent years of hard work and effort on her part. Other than making sure her homework is finished, I haven't been one of those parents to make sure she got every answer right. This really was all her.
If this had been a baseball game and she hit a home run, no-one would have thought twice about me jumping for joy. If she had just won a tennis match, there wouldn't have been a single comment at my outburst. If she had just finished first at state in swimming, there would have been a crowd of people cheering with me.
If our culture celebrates sporting events with cheerful noise, shouldn't we do so much and more for academic excellence? Sporting victories are short lived, but the things she learns now impact her for the rest of her life. She's learning to succeed in areas that will be of greater benefit when she's in the workplace than any extra curricular activity I can think of.
I am very pleased with my children's performance in school. They're learning so much and working so hard. I'm going to celebrate their accomplishments as victories. Not everyone gets an award for a high GPA in high school, not everyone gets to play in the regional All-Star band and not everyone gets an award from the President. Like it or not, I'm going to continue to stand and shout. I think the shins can take it.
