Parents of the High School Class of 2017/College 2021

[SmallWorld71]

It's been a busy few weeks with the start of the school year and me heading back to work.

Unfortunately, DD didn't get a speaking role in the play she auditioned for. She is in the show a little bit in the ensemble and she's a little disappointed but fine. She maintains that she made the right decision leaving dance and is looking forward to Legally Blonde in the winter. The nice thing about the musicals is that even if she is just in ensemble, there is a ton of singing and dancing and time on stage. She is also helping with crew to get to see all aspects of the theater.

Oldest DS had to evacuate Florida's east coast during Hurricane Irma. He went with a friend to the friend's girlfriend's in Tampa then they had to evacuate again. Fortunately, his friend's family has DVC and they were able to ride out the hurricane safely at BLT.
My prayers go out to all those in the world who have been affected by these natural disasters.

The best part of my week was Tuesday night when DS18 called. It was the first time I have spoken to him since August when he left. It was so nice to hear his voice! He talked to DH and I for over an hour. We have had lots of texting communication, but this was so much better! He is loving college and says he feels like he's been there a long time. He says he would love to see us, but has been too busy to be homesick. He is loving the marching band and has made a bunch of friends through the band. He also attended a Wildlife Society meeting that he enjoyed.

I am so glad that he has adjusted so well but DH, DD and I miss him terribly. Since he has no plans to come home before Thanksgiving, we (along with my mom) are heading to see him and the band perform Homecoming weekend. October 20th can't come fast enough!

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

We got our VT vs Clemson tickets last night!!! DH has been on the hunt for tickets we could actually afford, and he finally got them from a friend of a friend. The big game is next weekend. ESPN announced yesterday that they will be doing "College Game Day" from Va Tech that weekend. DD is so excited we are coming, and I can't wait to see her! Then she comes home for Fall Break Thursday night (Oct 12th). But.....I just realized DS's Fall break is almost 2 weeks before DD's. It starts next weekend - the same weekend we are going to visit DD and attend the Clemson game. We did not plan this well!!!!! We'll have Sunday through Wed with DS though.

 

[robinb]

We got our VT vs Clemson tickets last night!!! DH has been on the hunt for tickets we could actually afford, and he finally got them from a friend of a friend. The big game is next weekend. ESPN announced yesterday that they will be doing "College Game Day" from Va Tech that weekend. DD is so excited we are coming, and I can't wait to see her! Then she comes home for Fall Break Thursday night (Oct 12th). But.....I just realized DS's Fall break is almost 2 weeks before DD's. It starts next weekend - the same weekend we are going to visit DD and attend the Clemson game. We did not plan this well!!!!! We'll have Sunday through Wed with DS though.

College Game Day is a BLAST!

 

[laughinplace199]

We just got back from family weekend at DD's school. We text fairly often and FaceTime once a week, but it was so good to see her in person! We brought DS16 and DS10 too, and the kids were so happy to see each other!

She really likes her roommate and she's made some other nice friends in her dorm. She also joined the crew team, and she's hung out with her orientation group a few times, so she seems to be doing well socially (which is great for her as she's quiet and a bit of an introvert). It was a relief to see that she's so happy and doing a great job juggling school work, crew, and being social.

She has a few days off in mid-October, so only three weeks until we see her again!

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We should be at Family Weekend right now, but it was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma. I posted a few pages back that my son had to evacuate from the University of Miami and was flying home to California on the 9/8. He ended up being here for two weeks, finally returning on 9/22. Poor guy was loving his classes, had tons of new friends, and had just established a routine for each day of the week. Then suddenly he had to pack up and head home. We have to give props to the university for the way they handled the evacuation and communication with students and parents. We received several updates each day leading up to the storm regarding evacuation, as well as afterward regarding campus condition and clean-up efforts. We knew this was all a possibility when DS chose to go to Miami, we just didn't think it would happen three weeks after we left him there. This was such a devastating storm for so many people, and we're thankful that we were able to get DS home safely!

 

[bjscheel]

Unfortunately, DD didn't get a speaking role in the play she auditioned for. She is in the show a little bit in the ensemble and she's a little disappointed but fine. She maintains that she made the right decision leaving dance and is looking forward to Legally Blonde in the winter. The nice thing about the musicals is that even if she is just in ensemble, there is a ton of singing and dancing and time on stage. She is also helping with crew to get to see all aspects of the theater.

DD16 just dealt with this last week, not getting the part she thought she wanted. There were tears that night. However, after the first run through she has decided that it was well cast and she's going to have fun with what she got. Glad your DD is fine and just tell her to be the best ensemble cast member she can be

This is actually the first weekend DD stayed at school, due to her work schedule at Target. But I had some pants for her to try on for work, and DD16 wanted to do some shopping, so we picked her up and spent several hours with her anyway! She actually had all day Saturday and today till 5:00 off, so it was a lot of time to fill and her roommates had left. She did go to a church this morning so that was an outing for her. She is wondering if she would have been happier working at Michael's instead of Target, but she's barely gotten started so she's going to see how it goes.

 

[aprilgail]

Love your care package! Never heard of the Voodoo string dolls-what a perfect choice. How sweet that he was so touched!

I sent Lizzy one the Monday after we dropped her off. DD (14) & I painted the inside box flaps blues and added clouds. Wrote on the flaps "something out of the blue-thinking of you" and everything inside was blue-oreos, crunch bar, blue socks with moon phases...she thank me for it but I almost got the impression she was embarrassed to get it. .

I saw that "blue box" on pinterest. I actually have that packed and waiting to go LOL- I even added Mac and Cheese in the blue containers for her room mate! I also just sent a bunch of Halloween decoration for her dorm room too, things to hang on her door and the walls.

 

[Poohforyou]

I can't wait for October 6th!! My baby will be home for 4 days. I've only sent 2 care packages. We left a box of birthday gifts when we dropped her off, then I ordered her a few things from IKEA. They have a lot of cute dorm stuff and then I sent a few treats from trader Joe's plus a gift card since there's one near school.

DH is going to pick dd up so I have a bag of things for her like microwave meals, mallowmars, Halloween decorations and some other stuff. We'll see her at the end of October for parent's weekend and will bring some other things.

BTW, Duncan Hines has these muffin/brownie/cupcake in a mug mixes for the microwave. They're individual servings. I bought a couple that I thought dd would like. Dh and I tested the brownie one and they're pretty good. Tastes like a boxed brownie mix. Just throwing it out there for care package items.

 

[LilTinkFan]

Our dd was home this weekend! It was a stressful trip as she had come to break things off with the boyfriend that still lives here. And we had an emergency dentist visit. She has to get her wisdom teeth removed. I am calling around today to see if anyone can do it on fall break.
College wise, history is kicking her bootay. The rest are ok. She backed out of her music audition. Thank goodness she was a double minor and doesn't have to figure that out.
Roommate is still good. She's also thinking of going through rush.

 

[aprilgail]

Well Rush is finally over- they find out today if/what sorority they got into. Well going through high school I was always ticked off at all the homework she got-hours and hours of it. Well some good came out of that last night she says "I have so much free time its crazy, the homework in college is SO much less than high school!" My friends daughter who did not take any AP courses and had minimal homework is calling home crying about how much homework she is getting in college, at least mine was used to that load!

 

[lovin'fl]

Well going through high school I was always ticked off at all the homework she got-hours and hours of it. Well some good came out of that last night she says "I have so much free time its crazy, the homework in college is SO much less than high school!" My friends daughter who did not take any AP courses and had minimal homework is calling home crying about how much homework she is getting in college, at least mine was used to that load!

My girls are saying the same. Also saying school work is easy. Taking all those AP classes was helpful, but I agree it was a pain at the time (junior year was ).

So I have twins who, against my suggestion, decided NOT to room together. And what do you know...one got a crappy roommate. She had some inclination prior to move in (when she was at a tourney and roommate was texting her all night and finally she told her that she had to go to bed since she had to be up early...the roommate ignored and kept texting her and when she fell asleep and didn't reply back the roommate got mad and refused to speak to her for three days....this was before they even met) So DD messaged someone at the school about it and was told to give it two weeks after moving in and then she could, if she was still unhappy, put in a form to switch. Well she wasn't told that she had to find someone to switch with on her own and get that person's signature as well as both roommates signatures. She can't find anyone to switch. She has gotten several girls interested but then they find out who the roommate is and they back out.

My DD plays a sport and has to be at practices and workouts at 6am. My other DD and all other freshman on their team all have athelete roommates and are in dorm near facilities. But this DD, with roommate problem, is in dorm farthest away and her roommate is not an athelete so she is up till 2 -3am. She will bust in the room while DD is sleeping and bring in boys to drink or vape, waking DD who has 6am practice. She also talks to home friends on Snapchat or whatever on her laptop until 2-3 am, yelling and laughing while DD is trying to sleep. She then sleeps until 2pm, skipping classes. I was thinking she may flunk out but my DDs tell me you can get several unexcused absences....WTH?(wasnt like that when we went to college). She sprays an aerosol and lights it with lighter and DD is afraid she will set room on fire. She, the first week, dyed her hair and used DDs towel and ruined it.

Anyway, she has just a few more days to find a switch and it's not looking good. She even asked some triples if one of them wanted to switch, which they all did until they found out who the roommate was that they'd be switching in with. There are even several girls who have had roommates quit school and leave them in solo and the school doesn't step in to put new roommate in those rooms. Even though they have a bunch in triples. I would be so mad if my kid got a triple and they have a bunch of solos refusing to take on a roommmate. My DD tried one of these solos and the girl says she wants to have room to herself. School should make them pay more and triples should get discount....but my understanding is that neither is the case.

I am staying out of it and letting DD handle it. But come spring, their sport season, she really needs to be able to sleep. She has even spoken to residence folks and her coach. But they all just say, find a room to switch. My other DD told me that her sister came to her room recently and flopped on her bed in tears and cried for half an hour, then left and came back shortly after to flop down in another fit of tears. Residence people have also told her to openly talk to roommate about issues and DD does but roommate doesn't care. It's like she does what DD asks her not to...like trying to push buttons. The team has one fall game day and she told her roommate it was important for her to get to bed early and get good sleep the night before...roommate tells her she has two friends from home coming to stay that night.

 

[lovesdumbo]

lovin'fl-so sorry for your DD. Isn't there something RA can do if the roommate is breaking the rules? I would wake up the RA at 2am-make it their problem too... At my DD's school they can't have overnight guests unless the roommate signs off on it. Would your DD be better off sleeping on the floor of her sisters room that night?

BTW, Duncan Hines has these muffin/brownie/cupcake in a mug mixes for the microwave. They're individual servings. I bought a couple that I thought dd would like. Dh and I tested the brownie one and they're pretty good. Tastes like a boxed brownie mix. Just throwing it out there for care package items.

My coworker wanted an easy idea for care packages for her nieces and nephew. I suggested a "just add water" package-she got some of those brownies (and taste tested and said were good), mac & cheese, tea, hot chocolate, soup, oatmeal, .....

 

[lovin'fl]

lovin'fl-so sorry for your DD. Isn't there something RA can do if the roommate is breaking the rules? I would wake up the RA at 2am-make it their problem too... At my DD's school they can't have overnight guests unless the roommate signs off on it. Would your DD be better off sleeping on the floor of her sisters room that night?



My coworker wanted an easy idea for care packages for her nieces and nephew. I suggested a "just add water" package-she got some of those brownies (and taste tested and said were good), mac & cheese, tea, hot chocolate, soup, oatmeal, .....

She was recently told to stealthily get the RA to walk by when roommmate is doing shots in room. She has told residence folks the stuff the roommate is doing but it's off record, she has to give permission to be on record and then roommate will get in trouble but still be her roommate so that would make things worse. DDs took an airbed that other DD keeps so she can go sleep there. Last option they are trying to make other DDs rooms triple and have her move in but that roommate would need to sign off. Hasn't happened but needs to by Wednesday...I think that is cut off for room switching.

 

[mamacatnv]

lovin'fl - that is terrible that the school won't make those in a triple all alone take on a single, I think I'd be advising DD to get a bit more pushy on that point.

 

[sksjasams]

She was recently told to stealthily get the RA to walk by when roommmate is doing shots in room. She has told residence folks the stuff the roommate is doing but it's off record, she has to give permission to be on record and then roommate will get in trouble but still be her roommate so that would make things worse. DDs took an airbed that other DD keeps so she can go sleep there. Last option they are trying to make other DDs rooms triple and have her move in but that roommate would need to sign off. Hasn't happened but needs to by Wednesday...I think that is cut off for room switching.

What an awful situation. Honestly, with the deadline being Wednesday, I would step in as a parent. This is completely unacceptable. There is room for your DD in other rooms. There is no way to justify her suffering. This is too important for you not to get involved at this point. She has tried to advocate for herself and is not being heard. It's your turn.

Good luck, and I am so sorry your DD is going thru this.

 

[mamacatnv]

What an awful situation. Honestly, with the deadline being Wednesday, I would step in as a parent. This is completely unacceptable. There is room for your DD in other rooms. There is no way to justify her suffering. This is too important for you not to get involved at this point. She has tried to advocate for herself and is not being heard. It's your turn.

Good luck, and I am so sorry your DD is going thru this.

I tend to agree with this, sometimes those paying the bill need to throw their weight around. One thing we learned when DS went off to college is that despite all the "they are adults" talk there were many times and circumstances where they the student was dismissed or just not heard and a parent needed to step in and remind the school what their obligations were.

 

[aprilgail]

Well my daughter is a Sigma Kappa- she is very excited.

 

[Sabeking]

Update! So, remember the story about the guy who drew dicks on dd's refrigerator door ( no, it wasn't a white out board but a permanent marker all over the refrigerator. ) Well I got a little bit more of the story out of her. Apparently, when this happened she screamed at the kid to leave the suite. His response was, " whoa little girl, I'll leave when I feel like it. Soon after he left when the other guys said let's go.

Anyway, tonight she came home with her roommate at about 9:30 pm. The police and a drug dog were next door at the boy's room. Yep, two of the three were charged for drug possession. Including the lovely artist that drew on their refrigerator. Looks like he may not be around to draw much longer. We'll see.

 

[Sabeking]

My girls are saying the same. Also saying school work is easy. Taking all those AP classes was helpful, but I agree it was a pain at the time (junior year was ).

So I have twins who, against my suggestion, decided NOT to room together. And what do you know...one got a crappy roommate. She had some inclination prior to move in (when she was at a tourney and roommate was texting her all night and finally she told her that she had to go to bed since she had to be up early...the roommate ignored and kept texting her and when she fell asleep and didn't reply back the roommate got mad and refused to speak to her for three days....this was before they even met) So DD messaged someone at the school about it and was told to give it two weeks after moving in and then she could, if she was still unhappy, put in a form to switch. Well she wasn't told that she had to find someone to switch with on her own and get that person's signature as well as both roommates signatures. She can't find anyone to switch. She has gotten several girls interested but then they find out who the roommate is and they back out.

My DD plays a sport and has to be at practices and workouts at 6am. My other DD and all other freshman on their team all have athelete roommates and are in dorm near facilities. But this DD, with roommate problem, is in dorm farthest away and her roommate is not an athelete so she is up till 2 -3am. She will bust in the room while DD is sleeping and bring in boys to drink or vape, waking DD who has 6am practice. She also talks to home friends on Snapchat or whatever on her laptop until 2-3 am, yelling and laughing while DD is trying to sleep. She then sleeps until 2pm, skipping classes. I was thinking she may flunk out but my DDs tell me you can get several unexcused absences....WTH?(wasnt like that when we went to college). She sprays an aerosol and lights it with lighter and DD is afraid she will set room on fire. She, the first week, dyed her hair and used DDs towel and ruined it.

Anyway, she has just a few more days to find a switch and it's not looking good. She even asked some triples if one of them wanted to switch, which they all did until they found out who the roommate was that they'd be switching in with. There are even several girls who have had roommates quit school and leave them in solo and the school doesn't step in to put new roommate in those rooms. Even though they have a bunch in triples. I would be so mad if my kid got a triple and they have a bunch of solos refusing to take on a roommmate. My DD tried one of these solos and the girl says she wants to have room to herself. School should make them pay more and triples should get discount....but my understanding is that neither is the case.

I am staying out of it and letting DD handle it. But come spring, their sport season, she really needs to be able to sleep. She has even spoken to residence folks and her coach. But they all just say, find a room to switch. My other DD told me that her sister came to her room recently and flopped on her bed in tears and cried for half an hour, then left and came back shortly after to flop down in another fit of tears. Residence people have also told her to openly talk to roommate about issues and DD does but roommate doesn't care. It's like she does what DD asks her not to...like trying to push buttons. The team has one fall game day and she told her roommate it was important for her to get to bed early and get good sleep the night before...roommate tells her she has two friends from home coming to stay that night.

At the rate the roommate is going I can't imagine she would make it past December. I was talking to my BIL the other day about my dd's partying neighbors and he said similar things have happened with his dd through the college years and it usually takes a good three months to shake it all out. Either the kid calms down some or fails out. My dd's neighbors got busted for drugs tonight and they have been a pain in the *** since day one. BIL was right. Good luck to your daughter, keep us updated!! Hugs!

 

[lovin'fl]

At the rate the roommate is going I can't imagine she would make it past December. I was talking to my BIL the other day about my dd's partying neighbors and he said similar things have happened with his dd through the college years and it usually takes a good three months to shake it all out. Either the kid calms down some or fails out. My dd's neighbors got busted for drugs tonight and they have been a pain in the *** since day one. BIL was right. Good luck to your daughter, keep us updated!! Hugs!

Glad your DD's situation may be looking up. I didn't see your previous post but will go back to look for it. The parts you mentioned above sound awful. I hope those boys are kicked out but worry they may not be...seems like the colleges tolerate more these days. Keep us posted. I too am hoping DDs roommate is gone by spring. DD said she's likely not switching rooms and she didn't want me to call school and raise a fuss. So, here's hoping she settles down or quits school.