And the award goes to.....

Last night Al and I, and his parents too, attended the high school awards night *banquet*.

The End.





No.

Not really the end. I guess I should tell you more - otherwise what would be the point of bring it up in the first place.




Mid last week I received a call from the high school informing me that our eldest daughter was receiving an award and that our presence was requested at this banquet where she would receive said award.

Now being the person that I am, I was slightly annoyed that I was being made to leave the house which I feel I spend precious little time in lately to begin with to attend an academic and sports awards banquet which, lets face it - are not areas which Aarica excels at AND they wouldn't tell me what sort of award she was getting and you all know how much I just LOVE surprises.

I will admit, I was just a wee bit concerned that this award wasn't truely an award but more of a token or gesture. I'm sorry if that sounds completely pessimistic and mean but seriously - the awards handed out tonight were mostly given to the committee heads, student council members, honour roll students and the musically, theatrically, artistically and athletically gifted and I did not want my daughter paraded up there to receive a 'token' award for some sort of unknown accomplishment. Had they just told me what this award was for it would have relieved some of my concern and also some of the annoyance at being made to go out at all this evening.

Of course, I would still have been annoyed with the whole matter anyway because the cost of this lovely banquet was $12 per person and while I assumed the students receiving awards would not be required to pay for their tickets.....I was wrong and oh boy was I ticked when I stopped in the office on Tuesday to purchase tickets for Al and I and found that out. Not that it mattered since there were no more tickets left anyway and only then was I told that we could just show up an hour after the banquet started, once the meal was over and attend the awards portion of the evening without having to pay a dime. If they'd have just mentioned that in the first place....along with the nature of the award she was receiving....I wouldn't have been annoyed at all - or at least as much. Still wasn't pleased I was being made to leave my house.

So I guess after all my annoyance passed (except the slight twinge of not knowing why we were there in the first place) and we got to the banquet and eventually found a place at the back to sit and sat through the many many many awards that were handed out (to the same 10 people I'm sure) they called Aarica's name. And colour me surprised. It wasn't a fluff "good citizen" type award at all. It was indeed an actual academic award from her Travel and Tourism course which is a new course that just started this year.

She is officially the first student at our school to complete the requirements for the 1st level of this course and she received a certificate (and a t-shirt) from the Canadian Association of Travel and Tourism for completing it. The school even went so far as to put the certificate in a frame for her....and while I'm not going to try and kid myself into thinking that she, on her own, was able to complete all the work or have a solid knowledge of most of the information covered in the course but with the help of her educational assistant she did and she also fulfilled her required 25 hours of work experience (she's been going to the local senior's home twice a week and helping out in laundry, housekeeping, the kitchen/dining room as well as visiting with the 'grandmas and grandpas' that live there) and she's received a passing grade and the certificate to prove it.

And that's pretty cool and we are proud of her!

~K