ACT your age, you Graduate.

I got my ACT scores back this last Wednesday. I received a 32 out of a possible 36. I was happy. Elated. Pysched. Exuberant. Shocked. Dumbfounded. Praising the Lord.

The 32 means I'm ranked in the top 1% of students in the State and in the US who took the ACT in April. It also means I can most likely get another $2000 per year if I go to MSU or DU. Plus I'm now eligible for the highest academic scholarship at MSU, which includes room/board/all tuition paid and access to the a special Library and entrance into the Honors Society. But...they only give 40 of those scholarships out per year. I'm actually really hoping to be accepted into Drury. I'd rather go there than MSU. We'll see. I'm going to apply to both schools. In case I don't get the full ride at DU, then I can go to MSU and get all my tuition paid for even if I don't get the Presidential Scholarship (the highest award).



Oh, I'm exhausted. This last weekend was the SHEM Convention. SHEM stands for Southwest Home Education Ministry. Basically, people from all around the country come to sell their respective cirriculums and talk to new homeschoolers about different ways to teach their children. There are speakers that teach on different things, from Creation Vs. Evolution, to the meaning of Classical Education, how to help/teach children with learning disabilities. There was nearly 100 vendors that came to sell and promote their homeschooling tools. The convention started Thursday evening, and went until Saturday evening. To allow the convention to run smoothly, there had to be volunteers, of course. And I love to help at stuff like this, so I volunteered. I knew what it would be like, since I had helped last year.



All Thursday afternoon, vendors came and unloaded vans, trucks, and trailers. And guess who was there to help them unload and set up their booths?? The Pages, those special people that have a heart for service. I'm not boasting here. Yes, I'm one of those people, but I have a deep sense of respect and appreciation for all the other pages and volunteers who made the convention possible. It's not a one or two person job. It takes many, many people to make something like that happen.



Friday evening, after the vendor hall had closed, SHEM hosted its annual homeschool Graduation. 12 young people graduated, including one of my best friends, Sam. The Play His Praises Homeschool Orchestra and the Sing His Praises Homeschool Choir both participated in the graduation. The Orchestra played Pomp and Cirumstance for the graduates as they walked in, and played Fanfare and Frippery No. 2 as they walked out. The Choir sang It Is Well right before the Speaker addressed the audience, and sang a benidiction/prayer/the seven-fold-amen right after the parents had finished giving their young adults their congratulations.



That's a really cool part of the Graduation. You get to hear the parents of each of the graduates come and talk about their child for a couple of minutes. Charging their graduate to keep following the Lord, and to continue in the way they were trained. Often, the parents would read scripture, or relate some time in the graduate's life were they reached an important milestone in their faith.



All that to say, I'm bushed now. I kind of wished I'd had a pedometer while I was at the convention. I would have really liked to know how far I walked. It was several miles, I know. I've never had such sore legs. Oh well. I'll get over it.