Parents of the Class of 2019

[Colleen27]

For those who have a junior prom, is it combined with the senior prom? Our school isn’t that big, but there are over 300 in each class. Each class fundraises like crazy for 4 years to help with senior year costs, including keeping prom costs reasonable (ds19’s was only $50 a ticket, which was amazing). The junior formal is held at the HS, $50, obviously not 5be same as prom, which is held at a fancy wedding banquet hall. Both include dinner.

Ours is combined but DD's school is tiny - her graduating class is 27, and while that's the smallest in the school I don't think there's any grade with more than 40 kids. The junior class does the fundraising and planning, and the seniors just show up to enjoy it. It is a nice arrangement, because the seniors don't have to worry about prom planning on top of all of the senior year and getting ready for college stuff, so any senior class fundraisers go to the all-night party and senior trip.

The dance itself includes dinner and is held in the banquet space at a fancy harbor club. It is a really beautiful space, the entire second floor of a waterfront building with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the water - California Grill reminded me of it when I was first there. Tickets are $50, compared to $30 for other school dances that are all held at less upscale country clubs/banquet halls. They really can't use the gym for functions because it is shared between the high school, the K-8 my younger DD attends, and the parish they're both affiliated with, and is close enough to the church sanctuary that they hold gym class outside if there's a funeral going on because of the way sound carries. So Saturday night dances + 6pm mass wouldn't work even if there isn't some sporting event or meeting that conflicts with setting up during the day.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Does it include dinner? Our has dinner with assigned seating (the kids arrange the tables, plus the party buses). I can’t image the venue size needed for two classes, plus dates (who can be from different classes or schools, different schools need a form filled out by that school’s principal).

Honestly, I’m not sure what all it entails. Historically, no it did not include dinner and it’s always been held in the gym. Things may or may not have changed in the past few years.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Ours is combined but DD's school is tiny - her graduating class is 27, and while that's the smallest in the school I don't think there's any grade with more than 40 kids. The junior class does the fundraising and planning, and the seniors just show up to enjoy it. It is a nice arrangement, because the seniors don't have to worry about prom planning on top of all of the senior year and getting ready for college stuff, so any senior class fundraisers go to the all-night party and senior trip.

This is EXACTLY how it was when I was in high school.

My DD school is awful when it comes to extra curricular stuff. I could go on and on but won’t bore you with all my trials and travails associated with the school. It is a charter school, which started K-8 and added a high school class each year. I think this will be the 3rd graduating class. I thing there are about 300 kids in high school, about 140 in junior and senior class combined. The school refuses to officially be involved in any dances, and no teacher sponsor or administrators help with anything. The kids get together and plan everything. Last year the school even forbade teachers to chaperone at homecoming and prom, but this year they lightened up a bit and allowed teachers on their own time to come help chaperone the homecoming dance if they wanted to volunteer—it was held off campus at the local community college and completely plannned by my daughter and the student counsel president. They are allowed to fund raise at school and are allowed to sell tickets at lunch. It is a completely frustrating situation, because even through they get no help, they still have to get the schools permission for the dates, which has been difficult getting a commitment to the dates requested.

So...prom details...for Juniors and Seniors. They can ask a date in another grade. It has been $50 per person last year and this year. This year will be held at the Dallas Fair Park Butterfly Gardens pavilion—one of the girls on student counsel works there so they are working with the kids on the deposit and amount. Theme is Secret Garden, and there won’t be much decorating this year as it is already pretty. They are having to do it on a Friday night because the facility is cheaper. No meal, but finger foods.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Ughhh!!! I’m not doing the quoting right, so you have to open up the quoted portion to see my response.

 

[KristiMc]

Our school only has a Senior Prom. DS will be going with his girlfriend who is a senior. I have been asked to go dress shopping with her and her mom which will be fun since I have two boys.

 

[soccerdad72]

Senior prom only here as well. Considering my son has been to a grand total of one school dance (homecoming, freshman year - he went by himself), prom hasn't even been considered in our house. He considers school dances "stupid".

 

[PollyannaMom]

Two hours later we were paying for a prom dress. The first one she tried on looked great on her

The same thing happened to me when I was senior. I was almost disappointed at being "deprived" of a day spent trying on gorgeous dresses, but I loved it so much I got over that quickly.

I'm the lone holdout at our house and have apparently deprived my kids of a meaningful dog relationship for their entire childhoods (all 3 of them, as far back as they can remember). Boo hoo, mean mom!

I'm right there with you! I love other people's dogs, but have always vetoed having our own. cats are more my speed as far as level of responsibility goes.

Senior prom only here as well. Considering my son has been to a grand total of one school dance (homecoming, freshman year - he went by himself), prom hasn't even been considered in our house. He considers school dances "stupid".

My DS is the same way! I don't think it's on his radar at all.

 

[bjscheel]

Our prom is combined, there are about 35 seniors and 70 juniors in our school. You can ask anyone else from freshman to under 21 as a date. The kids/their parents are supposed to work 10 concession shifts during sophomore year, plus concessions at the county fair. This is how they raise the money. For every shift you don't work, you have to pay $20, so if you worked none, you would have to pay $200 to go to prom. If you work them all, you pay nothing.

Each class decides on whether to have things at different venues. DD's class is doing everything at school- the Grand March, catered dinner, dance, and post-prom. Last year Grand March was in the town square, dinner and dance at the old opera house, post prom at the YMCA in the next county.

The date asking is getting geared up. It's a game of strategy, really, to not get left without one, but to not get asked by someone you don't want. DD would not have been so anxious to find a date if it weren't for the boy she really didn't want to ask her (same boy as causing the musical theater issue).

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Anyone else's kids been pushing hard to get in Applications for summer programs???

Wow, the last two weeks have been crazy for DD, and I am so proud of her for pushing through to finish the essays and applications and get teacher recs and transcripts for 5 summer programs. Now we wait, with fingers crossed. They are all so competitive. With all the essay writing, one good thing is that it was good practice for college applications next fall, and I think she should be able to use some of them or rework them when it comes time for college applications.

 

[laughinplace199]

DS isn't doing any summer programs. He has worked at our local zoo for the past two summers and plans to do that again this summer. He also works at this zoo during the school year (just started in Sept) in a slightly different capacity. He loves it and has learned so much. I think his experience there will look great on college applications.

 

[bjscheel]

Nope, just hoping to find her a job.

Speech contest went alright Saturday. Her musical theater partner came through and they got 2's. One Act got two 1's and a 2, so overall a rating of 1.

 

[Colleen27]

We're done with summer programs. It is so weird to think about it that way! But everything had to be done so early for Japan, and this is her last high school summer... so no more applications and scholarship forms, at least not for DD16.

DD's been widening her college search, looking for a couple more solid match schools, and her list is just getting weirder by the day. The newest addition to the list of campuses she wants to tour? Wellesley. My first thought was "whose daughter is this?!?" My mom used a private, all-girls school as a disciplinary threat through most of my middle and high school years, but my girl LOVES the idea of a women's college. But it is less of a reach for her than Georgetown (she's solidly in the middle of their freshman profile numbers, rather than on the low end/just below), they do need-blind admission and meet full need without loans, and while the campus isn't urban the public transportation into Boston sounds like it is good enough that she wouldn't need a car. So it does hit her high points, and I have family in the area so at least if we do get out there we can combine it with a visit.

 

[soccerdad72]

We'd like our son to do a summer program, for no other reason than so he has an experience of living on a college campus to make sure he likes being away from home. The one at a school that I know he's interested in (U of Cincy) has a deadline of next week, however, so getting him motivated has been hard.

He's working through next year's schedule now. His big decision is with math. He's taking Calc AB right now, so his options are Calc BC, AP Stats or Honors Stats. His Calc teacher is recommending Calc BC because even though it will be part review, he'll get more out of that (as a future engineering student) than he will Stats (which he won't likely need to take in college). He's also then deciding if he should even take the AP Calc AB exam this year or just wait to take the Calc BC exam.

He's going to end up with an elective or two because he's not taking Spanish 5 - which we agreed to a long time ago when he started down the Honors Spanish route (starting in Spanish 2 as a freshman). Many of his other requirements are completed, so there's going to be some gaps in his schedule.

 

[mjkacmom]

We'd like our son to do a summer program, for no other reason than so he has an experience of living on a college campus to make sure he likes being away from home. The one at a school that I know he's interested in (U of Cincy) has a deadline of next week, however, so getting him motivated has been hard.

He's working through next year's schedule now. His big decision is with math. He's taking Calc AB right now, so his options are Calc BC, AP Stats or Honors Stats. His Calc teacher is recommending Calc BC because even though it will be part review, he'll get more out of that (as a future engineering student) than he will Stats (which he won't likely need to take in college). He's also then deciding if he should even take the AP Calc AB exam this year or just wait to take the Calc BC exam.

He's going to end up with an elective or two because he's not taking Spanish 5 - which we agreed to a long time ago when he started down the Honors Spanish route (starting in Spanish 2 as a freshman). Many of his other requirements are completed, so there's going to be some gaps in his schedule.

He could take both... Dd is taking BC, but 2 sciences, statistics is easier (according to my kids). No summer programs here (5 kids close in age, 2 in college, 1 income). Hopefully they will all find jobs.

 

[soccerdad72]

He could take both... Dd is taking BC, but 2 sciences, statistics is easier (according to my kids).

He could, except he hates the Stats teacher (he had him for Honors Algebra II as a freshman) - so he's unlikely to voluntarily go through another year with him unless there's an upside to it (e.g. college credits through the AP). He may very well score well on the AP Stats test, except if it doesn't meet a college requirement, it might be a waste of time for him.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Mjkacmom — Re: summer programs— all of the ones my DD applied to are free. 2 have stipends where the student gets paid to participate, but both of those are local to the Dallas area and she would be living at home instead of going off to a college campus for 5 to 8 weeks like the other programs. I am in major “save money for college” mode, and completely understand not being able to pay for a summer program. What has been so frustrating is that as she searched for or got invited to apply to programs for this summer, we stumbled upon so many more fantastic opportunities that she could have applied for in years past but is now too old for—Hindsight is 20/20–wish I had done more researching in the past 3 or 4 years.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

Colleen

We're done with summer programs. It is so weird to think about it that way! But everything had to be done so early for Japan, and this is her last high school summer... so no more applications and scholarship forms, at least not for DD16.

DD's been widening her college search, looking for a couple more solid match schools, and her list is just getting weirder by the day. The newest addition to the list of campuses she wants to tour? Wellesley. My first thought was "whose daughter is this?!?" My mom used a private, all-girls school as a disciplinary threat through most of my middle and high school years, but my girl LOVES the idea of a women's college. But it is less of a reach for her than Georgetown (she's solidly in the middle of their freshman profile numbers, rather than on the low end/just below), they do need-blind admission and meet full need without loans, and while the campus isn't urban the public transportation into Boston sounds like it is good enough that she wouldn't need a car. So it does hit her high points, and I have family in the area so at least if we do get out there we can combine it with a visit.

Colleen27–I laughed so hard at your whose daughter is this? and threats of all girls schools comments!!!!

 

[mom2rtk]

No summer programs here. Enrollment for next year is done but I reminded my daughter there will likely be conflicts that require some rethinking in the fall. Many of the advanced classes have too few kids enrolled to have more than one unit, and some of those are inevitably at the same time.

She has enrolled in Calculus and Physics which are done offsite as dual credit. Not offered as AP here. She still has to take a placement test to see which level of Calc she will be in. I think I'd almost rather she be in the lower level one since she's taking 6 weighted classes.

During AP Chem recently one of the kids asked if the teacher would look up their class rank. That guy was number 2. Then another one asked and found out he's number 3. They were all scratching their heads trying to figure out number one when my daughter asked to check hers. She was sort of insulted since she had a hunch it was her and nobody else had considered it. But she let up a little on the weighted classes this year, so she might still lose her spot. And next year will definitely bring its own set of challenges.

Anyway, all of that discussion was followed by the teacher telling all of them how much he hates class rank and that colleges don't care about it any more. He thinks without it, kids would be able to focus more on taking classes that interest them instead of the higher level weighted classes. This from an AP teacher. Gee, I wonder why there are only 11 kids in his AP Chemistry class.

 

[mom2rtk]

He could take both... Dd is taking BC, but 2 sciences, statistics is easier (according to my kids). No summer programs here (5 kids close in age, 2 in college, 1 income). Hopefully they will all find jobs.

My DD is taking both next year. Our sons both took AP Stat and said it wasn't bad at all.

He could, except he hates the Stats teacher (he had him for Honors Algebra II as a freshman) - so he's unlikely to voluntarily go through another year with him unless there's an upside to it (e.g. college credits through the AP). He may very well score well on the AP Stats test, except if it doesn't meet a college requirement, it might be a waste of time for him.

Yeah, the teacher can make a huge difference. It stinks when you want to take something but the teacher makes it a no go. I'm hoping for no big staffing changes before next year since so far the teacher lineup is ok. Our issues with AP teachers were last year and this year.

 

[mjkacmom]

Ds15 just told me he is taking pre calc and AP statistics next year. Um, ok? He was going to take culinary, but though stat would be fun.