Stefanie is in 5th grade, and going to a brand new elementary school just around the corner from our house. We've watched construction from the ground up, it is a beautiful school. In the last year, every time we'd pass it Stefanie would say, "That's my new school!" She's especially happy that she doesn't have to catch a school bus anymore, and gets to walk or ride her bike with her friends from the neighborhood. We met her teacher at "Back To-School-Night", and saw that she has many friends in her class this year. She's very excited.Braden is glad to be at the top of the totem pole this year, 9th Grade is the oldest grade in the middle school. He takes everything in stride, wouldn't go to Back-to-School-Night because he'd "been there, done that." He won't admit it, but I know he likes school. He is taking P.E., biology, English, geometry, computer tech, world civilization, and his first year of seminary. He knows he has to buckle down with his school work this year...grades will now count on his transcripts. He has joined the High School X-country team, he's trained with them all summer and will go every day after school for practice.
Rachel is in 11th grade, a junior in high school. She agonized all summer about which high school to attend. A brand new high school opened it's doors just a few miles down the road, and the student body was split in half. Most of her friends are going to the new school. Both schools have an open enrollment policy and finally, three days before the new school year began she made the decision to go to the new school. Unlike the 100-year-old high school she had been attending, it is modern, big and beautiful. She will be very busy this year with a tough load of classes: honors English, sports medicine, choir, ballroom dance, human anatomy, college prep math, sign language II, and early morning seminary.