May Activities - count down to graduation

May 2009 will be a banner month - Hank's senior year and graduation from high school! It's hard to believe that 18 years have gone by so quickly. It was 18 years ago when Henry, Hank (a newborn) and my dad, Bailey attended Eric's (our oldest son) graduation ceremony at Trussville High Schools football field in Trusville, AL.



At the basketball banquet (season ended late March) Hank was awarded the 2009 Defensive Player of the Year. Coach Kerr said that when a big guy needed to be covered, Hank was the man he selected as the guard. This was a surprise award !


As April led to May, we've been busy every weekend with track season and it's been fun to watch all the Wiggins students compete. Hank has finished a successful track season with a State Championship win in the 4X800 relay last Thursday, May 14th. The race was exciting as Gilbert Tucker, Hank , Logan Trautwein, and Alex Dore ran their best time, shaving 15 seconds off their season best. It was an amazing effort by each boy and I was jumping up and down at the fence as Wiggins 4th leg runner, Alex, crossed the finish line in first place!









Studies were wrapped up and classes ended on May 15th. Hank will graduate with honors. He he has decided to attend Montana Tech - University of Montana in Butte, MT. You can check out the school at www.mtech.edu This is an engineering college with in the mountains with a student to professor ratio of 1-14, and most importantly to Hank, close to excellent skiing. So while we will have Hank out west, Butte is still 10 hours northwest of our home in Orchard, CO.


Saturday, May 23rd at 10 am Henry and I will be in the audience at the graduation ceremony. I've selected my outfit carefully, making sure there is a pocket for my tissues to dab my eyes!


Following the graduation we are hosting an open house celebration complete with southern bar-b-que, Norms cole slaw and some assorted tasty treats. I wish each of you could be with us during this happy time. I'll post a blog with some pictures to document this event!


Just an added note of exciting family graduations: Our nephew Scott Little is graduating from Oneonta High School - congrats to Scott. And our nephew Eli Waltz is graduation from Columbia University in New York City with a degree in Mechanical Engineering - a big congrat to Eli. My neice, Michelle Little, graduated from Huntington University in Montgomery, Alabama with a business degree. She has been working on this degree while maintaining a full time job - quite an accomplishment, I'm very proud of her also. Karla Pitt, also my neice, graduated from Virginia College with a degree in Interior Design in March this year. She already has a full time job working with a designer that owns her own business in Birmingham - Karla loves design so if you need help with a design job, give her a chance!


May has been busy for us but I bet it's been busy for you as well.


We think of all of you often and glad to keep in touch in this small way.


Jane

Prom at Wiggins High

Of course parents don't get to go to prom but I did get to take pictures of some of the couples. Hank took a fellow student, Katlin Schwindt. Hank and Katlin met two more couples before the prom and went out to dinner at Old Chicago Pizza. Now a pizza place wasn't a fancy place to go all dressed up but these kids like pizza so it seemed appropriate to them.

Everyone was dressed up and looking fine. From left to right, Logan and Mariella, Hank and Katlin, Alex and Ashley

After dinner, the kids went back to the school where the lead out and prom dance began at 8pm. Wiggins junior parents host an afterprom party which begins at midnight and continues until 3am. The idea for this party centers around providing the kids something fun to do and to keep them off the roads and minimize opportunities for drinking. The couples leave prom, change to some comfort clothes and come back to the school to enjoy a fun party games, movies, competions, and prizes. Most all the students and their dates attend, I think the chance for prizes is a big draw.

Hank had a great time and because of the after prom party, I knew he was safe.

I appreciated this practice of the prom and after prom, thanks to the Wiggins Jr. Parents!