It’s June and we made it through by far the weirdest school year I’ve ever seen and that’s saying a lot having worked in elementary, middle, and high schools at one point or another in my career. There was this one time a kindergartener’s gum fell out of his mouth (WHY DID HE HAVE GUM AT SCHOOL????), while he was using the bathroom and the gum got stuck on his….. well you get the (not so pretty) picture, so let’s move on.
Kids are exhausted. Parents are exhausted. Teachers are exhausted. And most of us are looking forward to (a) a bit of a break and (b) being able to do some things in person again!
It has been so fun to see your whole faces, in person. As students and parents have slowly started coming back to the Garden Shed and backyard patio for some early summer meetings.
We have held four out of five Essay Brainstorm Workshops this month to help rising seniors get going on their Common App Personal Statement essays. Great job getting going on this fun and important piece of your overall application!
Reminder that it is a total myth that there is one PERFECT essay that will absolutely seal the deal of admittance to any particular college. Admission staff just want to get to know you. Something about you that they won’t otherwise know from your application. Written in your personal and authentic voice with some thought and reflection built-in.
You are a whole person, and your essay reflects one piece of your whole application. So take it seriously and spend some time, but at the end of the day just start writing!
We also took our first plane ride since COVID this month. To somewhere exotic, you might wonder? Ohhhhh nooooooo. To rural central Illinois where golf carts and styrofoam are king and folks play 50 cent BINGO at the local fair (and by “folks,” I mean me. And I won $6!!!). While I could easily write an entire blog post about this trip, I’ll leave you with the town of Casey Illinois. Home of the largest….golf tee, ruler, rocking chair, windchime, barber pole, and a number of other “world’s largest” random items collected in this one quaint little town. We had a blast bopping around in our rented golf cart, and by far my favorite was the giant mail box whose red flag lifts when someone mails a postcard.
Enjoy your summer!
