Sometimes it’s actually cool to go to school

Last Friday Paul thought he’d be the cool(er) parent and surprise Nick with an announcement when he arrived home from school. He asked Nick if his locker had been cleaned out and if all of his school stuff had been taken care of since it was one day shy of officially being summer vacation. Nick curiously answered Yes, I say curiously because Nick knows for a fact that his Dad doesn’t usually ask questions so specific without a reason. So Paul explained that Nick didn’t have to go to school on Monday (today) since he had taken care of everything at school.

Nick’s response surprised us all. He said he wanted to go to school on the last day. I wasn’t even on board with Paul’s whole cool plan anyway since the last day is just a whole lot of fun and only a half day, plus it wasn’t even all that cool. But wait. Back to Nick and his desire to attend school on the last day. Well, there’s this little thing called a sorting ceremony. It’s where the current sixth graders get divided into their academies for the upcoming school year. There are several academies, or teams if you will, that the students are split into and Nick just happens to be in the one that’s just about the most coveted, Innovation. So this morning while Paul and Cody lay in bed still snoring, I got up with Nick and made him breakfast and drove him to school. On the way, we talked about how next year he’s an 8th grader, you know, the leaders of middle school (or the final year before entering high school – somebody hold me!) and we talked about how he wondered if anyone else thinks the sorting thing is as awesome as he does. I asked just what makes it so awesome, I mean what’s the big deal of knowing what students will join your academy for the upcoming school year? His response? It’s just like watching the draft for the WWE Mom, well kind of. Since I have no idea how cool the WWE draft is, I obviously can’t fully appreciate the sixth graders and their sorting ceremony and how it feels to be a future 8th grader watching the whole thing unfold, but I’ll tell you this, as I think about his next year as an 8th grader all I can see playing in my head is the beginning scene of the movie Grease when the Pink Ladies are entering the school and Rizzo declares, We’re gonna rule the school. Because that’s how cool I am.