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Ten Fantastic College Values Too Many People Probably Overlook

Beginning early last summer, our family embarked upon a labor of love to help Philip find a great value to study biomedical engineering. In the process, we came across some great values worth sharing with our broader readership. While you should certainly look at your state’s university system as well as prestigious private colleges that offer generous need-based and merit scholarship, here are some hidden gems that are also worth investigating.

A Landmine in the College Application Process

During the summer, Philip and I researched schools offering Biomedical Engineering programs and Philip likewise worked on his college essay. Going into the school year we felt like Philip was ahead of the curve with a short list of schools from long-shot to safety and everything thing else in between. We were on schedule to apply “early decision” to his Ingram University, as well as “early action” at Evans Tech when we were blind-sided by an unexpected obstacle.

What We Can Read While Washing our Hands

Philip and I arrived two hours early in Oxford Hills for a Sunday evening admissions presentation by Ingram University, which was quickly becoming Philip’s first choice and long-shot school. I had brought a book; Philip had brought Ingram’s large glossy brochure as well as an SAT Preparation guide. We ate a fast food dinner and then Philip asked if there was somewhere more comfortable we could wait. I selected the Oxford Inn which was just three miles from the upcoming presentation.

Post #135: This Blog is Growing Up with my Family

Just under a year ago, I posted my one hundredth blog entry and celebrated the accomplishment with a summary description of what this blog has been about and what I intended the blog to be about going forward. For forty-four months including this month, I have been committed to delivering three posts each month. They chronicled the most interesting things I observed as a parent and the kinds of things I was thinking about as a parent. Three posts per month worked for a long time. But I have come to the conclusion that time has ended.

Selecting and Targeting the College Long-Shot

Less than two weeks remain of Philip’s junior year at Hermes High School. We now have the scores from his first attempt at the SATs and finals will quickly establish his grades and grade point average going into any early notification college application process.

While Philip is correctly focused on the home stretch of his junior year, I have been quietly compiling data on colleges. Amelia and I are pleased to see that Philip’s SAT scores came in high enough that he can be reasonably certain about getting into Sierra State University, so long as he does not screw up and delivers a well-assembled application early in the admissions cycle.

The Angry Divorced Father

In the Lacrosse Semi-Finals, Hermes faced Conquistador at the Cabrillo High School Stadium. Volunteers at the gate ensured there was a price for admission to keep up funding for the best high school stadium in the County.

I’m already looking forward to seeing Hermes face Conquistador next year. The team has a fantastic new coach as well as several great players who I once coached when they were tweens. Lastly, Philip’s friend Carson (who wasn’t eligible to play this season) will be back in gear as one of Conquistador’s top players. With this year’s game, we knew Hermes would slaughter Conquistador. Next year—with more than two thirds of the top players from Hermes graduating in a few weeks—will be a very different match-up.

Important but Not Central

With Philip, a whole bunch of things are happening at once. In addition to his junior year of high school being filled with all sorts of important near-year-end tests and assignments, he needs to think about his lacrosse team, Prom, his driving test, the SATs, visiting colleges and completing the volunteer hours he will need to officially log with the school in order to graduate.

On College and College Visit Road Trips

A year ago, during Philip’s sophomore year, I took Philip on a tour of the local state university that is less than a half hour’s drive from our home. It has a beautiful campus, and has a respected biotechnology program which is Philip’s intended field of study. But the visit had only a small impact. This month, we have taken Philip to visit two schools a more substantial drive away. Between age and distance, we observed a much greater impact.

A Good Captain Makes a Good Team

This Year Hermes High School’s Lacrosse Coach named four Seniors as Team Captains, including Conrad and Bruce. Over the years I have watched these boys on Philip’s Team grow up. It has been nice watching Bruce grow from being the star player to being a true leader. But the beacon of great leadership on the team this year is unquestionably Conrad.

His First Vehicle

The student parking lot at Hermes High School tells much without uttering a single word. Estimate the number of vehicles and one can estimate what percentage of the student body is in the driver’s seat each morning heading to school. Over the course of any school year, I would estimate it grows from a little over 40% to just shy of 60%. Factor in the number of students who live walking distance from the school and it would be safe to say that roughly 80% of driving-age students have easy access to either their own vehicle or their family’s second car.

Less a Child but not More an Adult

We still have the digital photos from hosting Philip and his peers for a party at our house two summers ago. Three then-fifteen-year-old boys Philip, Joshua and Kevin were lined up on all fours. Then-thirteen-year-olds Debbie and Katie got on top of them, and finally with the help of Chloe and Ashley, tween Abby got on top to form a pyramid. There were plenty of smiles, laughs and snapping cameras.

The Weekend Between Semesters

I think high school is harder for kids now than it was when I was in high school. The big difference is the student-teacher ratio. The teachers care. But when they have that many more students, something has to give. A second factor seems to be competitiveness. There seems to be more work and less forgiveness for mistakes.

When the Power Goes Out

Growing up decades ago, power outages were normal occurrences. They typically happened three to five times every year. My mother had candles to light. And she had a special cooking set for power outages. The old furnace would continue to operate as long as the pilot light remained lit. Power outages were a part of my childhood. They were something that would happen during a storm. In the darkness and absence television, radio or any kind of lighting other than candes and battery-powered flashlights, my mother and I would listen to the wind howl and patiently wait until the power returned. What was always funny was that the telephone had a separate power supply, and I do not think we ever lost telephone service. During the power outages, we could call my grandmother and grandfather across town. We would ask them if they had lost their power or not and what they thought of the weather.

Cologne for the Prom or Formal

Few events from high school will be as memorable as the proms and formal dances. If you are a guy, this is your chance to make a great memory for yourself and for your date. You get to dress outside your normal attire in a tuxedo, suit or at least something extra special. Philip for example owns a Black Alfani “Red Label” Jacket that fits his tall, lean body perfectly. He has worn it to banquets and other special events with an un-tucked button-up shirt, tight jeans and leather dress shoes. For the upcoming Winter Formal, Philip will combine his Alfani jacket with some new attire to provide the perfect look.

Two Very Different Honor Students

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.”

Having an Older Teen’s Perspective and Insight

It was only two years ago when Philip entered his freshman year at Hermes High School. Over what seems like an absurdly brief period of time, Philip has grown seven inches taller and perhaps that much wiser. He seems to understand himself better and he also seems to understand why his peers think and act the way they do. When his friend Joshua sent a dozen text messages in a half an hour’s time because Philip didn’t respond immediately to the first text immediately, Philip merely shrugged it off concluding that it is something some teenagers simply do.

Getting off to a Bad Start

Normally, boring adults like me only get to witness such things by watching teen dramas on television. But I guess it makes sense that volunteering to chaperon an end-of-summer teen dance sponsored by the Hermes High School Cheer Squad put me right where all that might be gossip-worthy would appear. Only three adults witnessed the “event of the evening” and I was one. And since one of the three was Liana’s mother, it was really only two adults who were privileged to witness Liana’s crowning act in making a foolish spectacle of herself.

Prom: A Guy Needs to Ask with Style

October 4, 2005 is a day that probably almost nobody remembers as special. But its impact on high school prom season is starting to hold out against the test of time. On that day MTV first aired the Our Last Prom episode of their popular series, Laguna Beach. During the first half of the episode, one after another the high school girls from Laguna Beach enjoyed the surprise of being asked to prom in unique and creative ways. In theory it should have been another fun episode for fans to watch. But instead it had a cascading effect. According to Unhooked author, Laura Sessions Stepp, high school girls suddenly had raised expectations about how they would be asked to prom. By the 2006 prom season some six months later, high school boys in upscale, middle class and even economically depressed communities were either going the extra mile or they were being rebuffed.

The Tame Teen Culture of Grinding and Social Networking

On March 4th the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report that showed (with two interesting exceptions) a significant drop in teen sex between two studies for which the data was only five years apart. I’ve copied the CDC’s figures for teenagers ages 15 – 17 into the tables below. In a way, the numbers communicate more than anything I or anyone else could write in comment.

Heterosexual Sex: Ages 15 – 17	Boys 2002	Boys 2006-8	Boys’ Drop	Girls 2002	Girls 2006-8	Girls’ Drop
Vaginal Sex	36.3%	31.8%	4.5%	38.7%	33.0%	5.7%
Any Oral Sex	44.0%	35.0%	9.0%	42.0%	30.2%	11.8%
Gave Oral Sex	30.4%	22.5%	7.9%	28.2%	25.1%	3.1%
Received Oral Sex	38.0%	33.4%	4.6%	40.3%	26.8%	13.5%
Anal Sex	8.1%	6.2%	1.9%	5.6%	7.0%	------
No Heterosexual Contact	46.8%	53.2%	7.4%	50.2%	60.3%	10.1%

Additional Sexual Data: Ages 15 - 17	Boys 2002	Boys 2006-8	Boys’ Drop	Girls 2002	Girls 2006-8	Girls’ Drop
Homosexual Sex	3.9%	1.7%	2.2%	8.4%	10.3%	------
No Sexual Contact	46.1%	52.6%	6.5%	48.6%	58.2%	9.6%