Potpourri

I apologize for not having posted for the last several days. I’ve just been beat to death with the physical therapy and then stomach flu and decided to play it calm and not strain myself more than I had to to get by. I’ve graduated from PT now (hurray!) and am doing much better on that front. Also, the icky flu is definitely gone.

A week ago Sunday, we took the Doodle up to IMSA (the Illinois Math and Science Academy) for a preview day. IMSA serves 10th-12th graders who are talented in math and science and who have gone through a fairly rigorous screening process. They only take about 250 new sophomores per year, they have an excellent retention rate, and 99% of the graduates go on to college, most with significant scholarship money, and many to Ivy League schools. They’ve been operating for 20 years now, have an excellent reputation, and lots of their graduates have gone on to do some wonderful, sometimes extremely profitable things.

We were there about 5 hours, and I have to say I was not bored hardly at all. Lots of shark-like predatory parents with cowed and compliant, over-achieving children, but also plenty of parents like me and kids like Doodle. He has had the idea and a vague wish to go there for a couple of years now, and for the last year, I’ve been providing him with more and more information. I want to see if he’s serious enough about going to put more dedication into his endeavors, and to bring them up to a standard that is closer to being commensurate with his abilities. There is no question about his possessing the intellectual hardware to qualify.

I figured that taking him there for a preview a year in advance of when we’d be submitting his application would give him something more tangible and concrete to hang on to and solidify the goal for him. There’s certainly no guarantee that he’d be accepted anyway, but I’m not going to deny him a chance to chase his dream; I just want to make sure it really is his dream, and not just something he thought about once and forgot. He hasn’t forgotten.

I could go on and on about it, but it’s probably better if you visit the website for IMSA and check out the virtual tour. And, if you’re unemployed, they are looking for a new president.