Nothing generates fits of nostalgia like having a grandchild complete an educational journey.
Last Saturday Noah, son Bob and Melanies oldest of four, was graduated from Humboldt High. Friday night daughter Brenda and Seans younger, Olivia Lee, will be graduated from Goddard High in Roswell, N.M.
We were at Noahs commencement exercises, and will be at Olivias; wouldnt miss either.
Now and again you, my dear readers, ask for a report on our six grandchildren, who occasionally have been mentioned in this weekly visit the past couple of decades.
Lets talk a bit about Noah first.
He had a fulfilling career at HHS, academically and with activities. His next foray into learning will be at the University of Kansas, where he will major in biology, and follow into medicine, the exact focus he has yet to decide. His interest in medicine was stimulated the past two summers by sessions for high school students he attended at the University of California, Berkeley, and Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Baltimore.
He and Elizabeth Myers, a delightful and talented classmate, spoke at HHS commencement exercises.
Noah mentioned his teachers and what laid ahead for the class of 2018. A portion that tugged at many heartstrings was when he led generous applause for classmates Lance Daniels, Brady Scolum and Nick Shultz, who will join the Army this summer. Much is said this time of year about students planning academic journeys after high school, and I thought it was a noteworthy gesture to elevate three young men who will join the military.
Olivia is uncertain what her course of study will be, and plans to remain at home a year to attend a community college in Roswell. After that she likely will enroll in a Christian college in Dallas. She is a wonderful young lady, and a dedicated student, which has led her to a number of advanced placement classes at Goddard, a school of 1,200 students.
Olivia will graduate with honors, as did Noah.
The oldest of our grandchildren and Brenda and Seans son, Hudson, just completed his second year at Lubbock, Texas, Christian University. On Aug. 29 he will arrive in Washington, D.C., where he will be until mid-December. He earned the opportunity to spend time in the nations capital studying government, much of it hands on. He will attend formal classes only on Fridays, and will collect 15 credit hours for the experience.
History, politics and communications long have fascinated Hudson.
That leaves three grandkids still in Humboldt schools.
Emma and Alayna our twins will be juniors this fall, and if asked today both would say they will enroll at K.U. for the fall semester of 2020.
Maddox will be in eighth grade this fall. He, like the other five, is a good student a whiz at math but at the moment is more interested in summer baseball and fishing than looking seriously at academics. Nothing wrong with that, he has plenty of time to consider career decisions.
Too often, I think, kids rush through school and into the work-a-day world. Youth is fleeting and they should take advantage of all it offers.
Beverly and I will be 75 a little later this year, and our fervent hope is we can celebrate three more high school graduations, six undergraduate commencements and whatever number of postgraduate degrees the apples of our eyes decide to pursue and complete.
