It was Philip’s first college fair. The Honors Advisor at Hermes High School had encouraged the Honor students in the Junior Class to attend. I took Philip and volunteered to give other students a ride. In the end, Philip was joined by just one of his peers: Evan.
I met Evan and his mother at Hermes High School the morning of the college fair. The contrast between Philip and Evan was immediate in their appearance alone. Philip was handsomely dressed in a new pair of jeans, an ironed but un-tucked button-up grey shirt and a semi-formal black jacket. He had showered with shampoo and conditioner plus and had combed his hair to perfection. Philip completed his look with a pair of dark plastic sunglasses. Meanwhile, Evan’s pewter-brown hair looked like it was washed only rarely with hand soap. His black t-shirt and tan cargo pants contrasted. His socks matched each other but not anything else in his attire. Philip’s clothing shocked Evan. “Oh … my dad told me I just had to wear something clean.”
“Most kids there will be dressed like you Evan,” I answered, but what I said proved a stretch. Boys at the college fair tended to be dressed casually but not as casually as Evan. No other boy was as well groomed as Philip. Girls, on the other hand, tended to be dressed more in line with Philip’s attire, wear sun dresses, or skirts and blouses. Only a few girls had arrived wearing jeans.
As I collected the emergency information from Evan’s mother, she telephoned his father from her mobile phone. Evan’s mother was small, nervous and seemed uncertain about what Evan’s father would want in terms of knowing about her son’s driver. For some reason, she kept referring to me as “Doctor Askins.” In the end, Evan’s father felt he didn’t need to speak with me so his mother ended the call. I couldn’t tell if the two lived under the same roof or not. But the exchange seemed unusually awkward.
Evan and Philip barely spoke. Evan stuck head-phones in his ears and Philip used my mobile phone to listen to his own music. For most of the drive, everyone was silent, but I occasionally asked Evan about himself. He liked computers and had an after-school job with his father’s software company. He seemed like the kind of kid who got an A in all or most classes without needing to study very hard. But he was completely unprepared for the college fair. He had not looked at the list of schools beforehand, so I gave him my print-out to look at during the ride. When I asked him what his parents had told him about the college fair he repeated his father’s sole advice to “wear clean clothes.” I used his response as pretense to give both of them my prep-talk for the college fair.
At the actual event, Philip canvassed the room to speak with schools that offered degrees in biomedical engineering. Few met Philip’s requirements but those that did got Philip’s full attention. He also made time to hear what small schools had to say about themselves and their Biology majors. Evan seemed to wander aimlessly from booth to booth. When engaged he wasn’t sure what he wanted to ask. For myself, I asked about graduate school placement, the school’s social life, sports programs, and financial aid. I avoided booths with any student waiting to ask a question but managed to speak with each school of interest.
During the drive home, Evan and Philip did not speak with one another. Both descended into their respective music. I pondered about how different they were from one another in so many respects. The choice to sequester themselves in their music seemed the only thing other than the Honors program that they shared in common. I also thought about how much more commanding and proactive Amelia and I behave when compared to Evan’s parents.
During the ride home I indulged myself in both pride and jealousy. But in the end, I merely accepted how things were. That day I got to observe my son at the college fair among many peers and in the car with one peer. It was a chance to privately celebrate his unique qualities while I can still observe them so easily.
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