Honors Scholar

Last night, Tuesday May 11, was the annual North Shore's Honors Scholars banquet, where the top 5% of 29 public and private schools in the North Shore area of eastern Massachusetts are recognized for their scholastic achievements. This top 5% amounted to 10 kids from Rebecca's school and she was one of them. This meant that Steve, Anne and Rebecca had to get a little dressed up for the evening...

...then it was out to the "rubber chicken circuit" to have dinner, hear a few speeches and then see the scholars, close to 300 of them, receive their certificates and engraved pen/pencil sets. (The students were uniformly impressed to see their names and their high school's name on their sets.)

The students were advised ahead of time to "leave their fish in their aquariums", meaning limp, fish-like handshakes. They were told to give firm handshakes and look the presenters in the eye, which they all managed to do very well. Note the smile and the eye contact as Rebecca shakes hands below.

As always, we were very proud of Rebecca. It's a busy season, so there are more of these kinds of things coming. Why is it that everything seems to happen in May?

WHO WILL BUY?

Saturday, May 1 was the North Reading town yard/garage sale. You give a small donation to the town and you get your address listed on a yard/garage sale map. Everyone in the family used the opportunity to clean some things out and as it turns out, one person's junk is indeed another person's treasure.

We didn't even work that hard at digging things out...mostly getting rid of the most obvious stuff that we don't use anymore. Though it looks quiet here, the yard was jumping from about 8:00 AM until after the stated closing time of 1:00 PM.

All in all, the kids cleaned up, splitting over $200 for their efforts. Most importantly, we cleaned out a lot of stuff. The rest, at least all of it that's worth something, is going to charity. The weather was perfect, 70's most of the day and sunny, so we couldn't have asked for anything more!

THE DECISION IS IN!

After much thought and a lot of college visits, Rebecca has made her decision. The thing is, I'm not sure that all of those college visits were necessary. It appears that Rebecca had actually made her decision when she was just under 3 years old! (See below)

So in case you're still wondering, Rebecca has been accepted into the Honors Engineering program at Northeastern University in Boston and she's taking them up on their offer. (She's turning down Tufts University, WPI, RPI, UNH, UMass-Lowell and UConn.)

Northeastern has a lot of positives, but they're perhaps best known for their Co-Op program. Her degree at Northeastern should take around 5 years. Here's how Northeastern explains this program...

Co-op (short for "cooperative education") makes a Northeastern education richer and more meaningful, providing students with experiences at home and abroad that help them develop the knowledge, awareness, perspective, and confidence to transform their lives.

Our co-op program, founded a century ago, is one of the largest and most innovative in the world. Students alternate semesters of academic study with semesters of full-time employment in positions related to their academic or career interests: in business, health care, education, engineering and technology, the visual and performing arts, and public policy, to name a few.

Some 6,000 Northeastern students are on co-op during some part of each academic year. Students have the option pursuing up to three semesters of co-op experience.

Co-op is closely integrated with our course curriculum, our scheduling, and our advising system. A network of co-op coordinators affiliated with each college support students in preparing for and succeeding on their co-ops.

So Rebecca is officially a Northeastern Husky! We're very proud of her!

SPRING IS IN FULL SWING!

Spring is in full swing in North Reading. Starting a couple of weeks ago, when our magnolia was in full bloom...

...and the forsythia was brightening the backyard...

...and the daffodils were popping up evreywhere!

Today...Erik gave the lawn its first haircut of the season and even though the magnolia is now sans blooms, the phlox have really perked up. There are buds and blooms everywhere and it looks and feels great!

STAY TUNED...COLLEGE ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON!

It's Decision Time!

The acceptances are in! Rebecca has applied and been accepted to...

University of Connecticut
University of Massachusetts - Lowell
Northeastern University
WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
Tufts University
University of New Hampshire
RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

Now is the tough part...making the decision! Stay tuned!

It's Picture Time!

We're just completing the rainiest March in Boston area recorded history. It ended with a bang, with two straight days of torrential rain. Now we get to start drying out with a possible 80+ degree day this coming weekend! Still, so much for that old thing about March coming in like a lion and out like a lamb. March went out more like a shark or some other ferocious water creature.

While we wait for Rebecca to hear from the last few colleges that she's applied to, here are some pictures! By the way, Erik just passed Mom in height and he's getting closer and closer to Rebecca!

WINTER SEMI-FORMAL

Saturday, January 30th, was the night of the North Reading High School Winter Semi-Formal. Rebecca and some friends attended the dance, all wearing their finest for the occasion.

They also paused a moment to pose with Erik.