This guy was announced as salutatorian of his class. I'm proud of him but especially because of a few obstacles he had to face to get to this point. At our school, band is double blocked which means he had less higher-level class opportunities than some of his peers that would raise his GPA. He's the first member of the band to achieve either val or sal since the band moved to a double block schedule ten years ago. Also, the school would not accommodate a master scheduling change when they put the one and only calculus class during the band double block despite several band members showing interest in the course. This issue was presented two weeks before school began when they had plenty of time to rectify the situation. But they refused to budge despite workable solutions being presented.
Instead, a compromise had to be negotiated with his band director and the calculus teacher where my son had to split time during the week between the classes. This caused a lot of added stress that other students didn't have to face. He often had to work on his calculus alone or come in for tutoring. I greatly appreciate these two teachers for working with him on this. It proved to be the difference because had he not been able to take calculus he would have not made salutatorian. I applaud the teachers. My school and district administration, not so much. They almost sabotaged his chance.
So I'm proud of my son. He worked super hard for this, often on his own. He truly earned it.
