Our kids are always giving us plenty of reasons to be proud of them and this time I just have to brag on our oldest, Michael.  He submitted an application to be an "ambassador" to the Weather Channel’s Forecast Earth Summit.  The process involved writing a 200 word essay to be judged and then if accepted to be interviewed by phone for about 20 minutes.  Well, Michael submitted his essay and we received an email saying that he’d been chosen as one of 40 semi-finalists from around the country (the program was open to all 9th, 10th and 11th graders throughout the country).  They then asked that I sign a release so that he could be interviewed by phone, which I gladly did.  This evening he was interviewed and despite being quite nervous he thinks he did pretty well.

I started out being proud of Michael for even taking the initiative to apply, but when he told me that they’d informed him that he was one of 40 kids picked out of over 20,000 applicants I was floored.  He’s taking it pretty nonchalantly but if you were to tell me that I had been chosen over 99.8% of the applicants I’d have gotten an ego the size of Texas.  He just said, "Kinda cool, huh?"

Hopefully the folks who did the phone interview will appreciate his forthrightness. When asked what his motivations were he didn’t just talk about wanting to save the Earth, he also said he thought it would look good on his transcript because he wants to get into a really good college.  Gotta love that brutally honest streak he has.  Maybe we should have coached him a little more, but I kind of like that he was just himself.  If they’re going to pick him I think it’s best if they do it based on the real deal and not some kid spouting off lines provided by overeager stage parents.  One way or another we’ll know the final outcome some time next week.

This post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Michael’s biology teacher at West Forsyth H.S., Mr. Brendan Leezer.  He’s truly stoked Michael’s interest in science and the kid can’t speak highly enough of him. Michael’s always loved science and Mr. Leezer’s enthusiasm has served to deepen that interest.  He encouraged Michael to apply for the summit and made himself available to offer any advice the boy needed. That’s the kind of thing that Michael will remember well beyond his high school years, and it’s the kind of thing that as a parent I really appreciate.