Amanda's Senior Year

So many fun things came to and end for this girl, as her senior year of High school wrapped up.   

Her academic team went to their state knowledge bowl tournament and took 2nd place overall, but 1st place for their 5A bracket.  It was intense tournament, I was able to to go watch, and loved to once again watch this girl do her thing.  She knows her stuff, and her team plaued well together.  

She earned this!  Not many people realize how much time a team like this takes.  Amanda put in hours of time studying and practicing for this team.  They proactice from fall to spring, 3-5 afternoons a week, and many Saturdays (or all weekend when they travel) during the tournament season.  It is crazy how any of them have time for school work, and part time work on top of it.

This is the top 4 players that played the majority of the time for A team.  Amanda has loved her time with this team.  They are not without their challenges, but they are stronger for it.  

Kody Shawcroft, her coach, has been amazing.  He is super intense, but he knows how to get these kids to perform at their best.  He has also been an incredible mentor and at times a councelor for Amanda, and for that I am forever grateful.  It is wonderful to have good people who your kids can go to when they need extra support.  At their end of the year picnic, Kody gave Amanda a plaque with all her accomplishments listed on it.  He told us how he had to have the plaque specially made because she had been an integral part of the team since her sophomore year, something only she had ever accomplished.  It was so hard to watch this chapter come to end for her.  She loved being a part of this program.

The team recieved awards of recognition from the local school board.  

And they did an assembly at school for them to show off their skills in front of the student body. They versed a few brave teachers.  It was funny, as part of their strategy is to answer questions before even part of the question has been asked.  It is so crazy, how they can anticipate like that.  

Also they hold a community bowl as a fundraiser, that always draws a fun crowd.  These teams are made up of some alumni, but mostly community groups that pay to participate.  The team feeds them a nice lunch and they hold a silent auction.  It is a big money maker, and it is something that the whole team loves.  At the end , the winning team gets to play against the current A team. So fun, and so crazy how many seriously smart and good people there are in the world.  Amanda was able to talk Dave into putting together a team, and they had fun getting creamed.

 Amanda participated in All-State Band this year.  She was excited as she loves any opportunity to play with this caliber of musicians.  This was right in the middle of soccer season, and as we had traveled already for academic team, and all state orchestra, we decided we couldn't make this one. She, on the other hand, got to travel over the pass, yet again, this time with better luck.  It think I counted 5 trips that winter/spring over the pass with all her music and acadmic team combined.  And with all the snow this year, it made for some crazy trips.  

She also got district recognitions for her All State Band and Orchestra participation.  By the time she went up the third time, the superintendant made a joke about how she felt like she had seen her before.

She recieved an award from her Band teacher, My Lavadie, another great mentor in her life.  I seriously marvel at these High School teachers that give so much time and energy towards teaching, and being there for these kids.  They are amazing, and I am grateful for them in my kids lives.

Oboe day at the local college, her teacher , is bottom left

And sometimes you just have to chill out!  She has some great friends, and that makes for some fun down time in between all this other stuff.  I think this was a BBQ at our friends house, followed by some hot tubbing. 

 An academic honors award, was the last hoorah before graduation at least.  This was a nice lunch banquet put on by the district, followed by an awards ceremony.  I have to say that this really was a hard accomplishment for Amanda to have achieved.  Gifted kids don't always live up to their talents.  It can be so much easier for them to not turn in work, or not even do it, because they already know how to.  It took alot of dedication on Amanda's part (and a bit of encouragement from her parents) to keep her grades up through High school.  I am roud of her for learning how to work hard through these years, when she could have easily slid by.

Mr Mack got to present Amanda and talk about her achievements and goals.  It was well done, and fun to see all these hard working kids get awarded for their accomplishments.  

 And finally Graduation!

Skai coudn't miss out on the fun!

It was a great day, with good weather (luckily), a short but meaningful program, and lots of pics to follow.

Grandma even made the trip out to celebrate with us!

The boys didn't want to miss school to go to graduation, but Amanda delivered and went to Jacobs School to celebrate.  They invited all the seniors that had attended Pomona, and it was fun to see all these former 5th graders together again.  That is how I will always remember them, as that was the year we moved here, and they were quite a bunch of good kids. 

They did a short parade for the kids, and Amanda got her picture in the local paper from it... 

A favorite graduation present from Shayla and her family.  So Amanda, in every way.  

 And last but not least, seminary graduation.  We love Sister Sherman. She is a dediacted and loving teacher, who took great interest in Amanda, and loved her from the start.  We will always be grateful for her influence on her.