DD finished her junior year of high school (at 13yo) with a grade-point-average of 4.47 on the year, and a
cumulative GPA of 4.33-- obviously weighted with honors and AP. She is just plain good at EVERYTHING she does academically.
Living in the day to day, it's easy to forget how extraordinary she is. Pictures from last weekend's graduation really brought this home to me, though-- pictures of my DD standing with her four school best-friends-- who were #1, 2, and 3 of THIS year's graduating class, and the likely #1 in the class of 2015 (also the younger sibling of #1 '13). My DD is, in spite of being so young for grade,
one of those kids. Actually, the two sibs are both young for grade, too, just not AS young for grade as DD. She's likely to be in the top 3 of
her graduating class next year, and there are a lot of VERY sharp kids in that group-- moreso than either of the other two years, in fact. This year's #1 is going to an elite college on a 100% merit scholarship. Definitely bright kids; it's an amazing photo of the five of them. I have every expectation that all of them will be success stories, and two of the five have significant disability-related challenges, which makes that picture all the more special to me.
She really is a natural wonder, my daughter. She really
is that rare and special. :awe:
While I would never tell her that, it does me some good to stand in awe of WHAT she is on occasion.
It reminds me that all of my advocacy is about nurturing/protecting that amazing treasure. Like John Muir championing Yosemite Valley or something.
Other cool things lately:
1. DD was elected the president of her NHS chapter for the coming year.
2. She was ELATED and ENERGIZED by her first day of 'work' at her computer science internship on a university campus-- on her 14th birthday, no less. No complaints from her. That
was her favorite birthday present. She loves her faculty advisor, and has already made a favorable impression for her superhuman reading speed and comprehension. She polished off three research papers and a review article yesterday in just a few hours. Evidently that was a first-- to the point that the supervising grad students challenged her, but she explained everything in short order without batting an eyelash.
She has really enjoyed discussing IRB considerations for human subjects and how those differ from those for animal subjects (with me, I mean-- I have years of experience with IACUC/IRB at various institutions).
In other words, she's taken to the research environment like a duck to water and is pretty much incandescent with glee over it all. Exactly like a kid in a candy store. It's a JOY to watch her spread her wings.
