Proud Mamma

Wow, this week has flown by. The end of the school year is always jam-packed with activities, concerts, projects, plays, and, this year, award presentations.

I have a daughter who will be graduating from high school in two weeks. She has been involved in theater all four years of high school. This year she's served as the secretary of the troupe. She played Mrs. Harcourt in the fall musical Anything Goes and a sweetly insane Florence in Curious Savage in February. She is now playing the lead, Madeleine, in the play The Clearing. She's worked extremely hard this year to learn and then apply what she's learned to her acting and last week she was awarded Acting Student of the Yearfor her high school. She was shocked, but so pleased with the award as it was a validation of sorts. After all, we artists are a sensitive bunch and every positive message we receive makes a big difference.

A couple of nights ago we were invited to another awards night where she was recognized as the student with the most improved GPA. Her freshman year was kind of nightmare as far as GPA goes, but she worked really hard to raise her GPA and for a trimester had a 4.0 (while being heavily involved in theater and attending early morning seminary). Her dad and I were very proud of her accomplishment in raising her GPA.

We so often hear about the bad things teenagers are doing and too often fail to recognize their accomplishments. I was struck by how many kids received recognition awards and/or scholarships. One young man receive a scholarship valued at $168,000. Others received four-year full-ride scholarships as well as other monetary awards for outstanding service and scholarship while in high school. Several students received numerous awards and recognition and it was gratifying seeing so many young people not only work hard, but receive recognition for that work. We have many, many good kids graduating from high school.

My daughter was awarded a ring for her GPA improvement and we bought her a dress to go with it :). I'm so thankful she, and the rest of her siblings, are making good choices. In a world where it's easy to do the wrong thing, I am grateful every day when my kids choose to do the right thing. While there's plenty of evil in the world and Satan stands ready to gently lull any and all who will listen down the road to hell, I am ever so thankful there are those youth who ignore Satan's subtle tricks and instead listen to that still small voice that will guide them to true happiness.

Yes, today I am a Proud Mamma.