Seventh Grade Wonder

Seventh grade was the hardest year for me in school. Like, it isn’t even close. I went from a small elementary school where I felt like a king to this gigantic junior high where ninth graders had full beards and smoke cigarettes. I was a short fat kid who was not very stylish. Now, I am not sure if you are aware, but short fat kids who are not very stylish tend to get bullied. Like a lot. And that year I was so overwhelmed with school and being picked on and everything. I got three F’s on my first report card. Now, let me clarify something. I have never gotten an F before seventh grade nor after. My parents would be upset if I got anything other than an A. They got more lenient and moved it to a B at some point, but bringing home three F’s was not a pleasure. I felt stupid. It was just a bad bad year.

I grew out of it. I did much better in school in the later years, but still nothing to brag about. I got involved in student government and drama and seeing my new friends do well in school made me want to do the same.

I am telling my son this before he started seventh grade this year. We were driving and I am explaining everything. I asked him if he has any questions and the only one was “How tall were you?”

And that is my son.

He was always the smallest kid in his class. Always. He was the smallest kid on any Little League team. He would get picked on, but not too bad. He was and still is very athletic, so being small is a lot better than being small and fat, which is was.

The pandemic hit in 2020 and both of my kids did virtual school. I hear a lot of horror stories, but both my kids exceled. I always knew my son was very smart and determined, but that is where I really started to see it. He would motivate himself and get work done and push himself to get 100s. I think the only time I got mad is when he was so stressed and I said “ I DO NOT CARE IF YOU FAIL!”

Okay, I yelled it. Hence the caps.

But he also grew a lot. He was not the smallest kid in his class anymore. In fact, he was huge. He grew over a foot and put on around 80 pounds of muscle. It is crazy when I tell people he is only thirteen.

So this year he worked hard in school. He kept reminding me that he was trying and he remembered me telling him about how hard my seventh grade year was. And he would come home with test grades of 100, 99, and 98 often. He stressed himself out a lot as well, but The work ethic he showed people in school is the same as in baseball. He wants to be the best. He is not cocky or conceited in any way. He does not put people down to bring himself up. He wants to do the best he can and hopes those results with shine.

So as I discussed, we had baseball. It was not a good or bad year. It is just hard when you have a 13 year old kid on a team with 17-18 year old kids who do not really want to take you under their wing. I believe that all kids and adults need some sort of humbling moment if they truly want to be successful. This was just that.

I am off tangent. So the year is basically over and my son had an Awards night thing. He told me that he was going to be on the Headmaster’s list, which is a 3.9 weighted GPA or higher.

So we went to the ceremony and teachers were giving out awards to their best and brightest and my son was cheering everyone who won. He did get one for playing the Saxophone in the band. He is going to be moved up to the high school band next year.

Anyway, here is what the whole post was about. They were finally going to announce the best of the best. The top GPA’s in middle school. And when it was announced, my son was called up first. At first I did not think anything of it. Then I thought it was weird he was called up first.

And then I realized he was the valedictorian.

My son worked so hard this year in school. And he was rewarded. My daughter’s grades were actually better than his.

And this was just a really long way of telling you that I am very very proud of my kids for working hard to get the results they want.

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