Lots of lasts

Anna had her last band concert and earned a band letter.  She commented that getting a band letter is easy compared to a choir letter!  (She will get that her JR or SR year.  It is odd because I think band is an easier commitment than show choir.  I think the band director likes to congratulate the kids for all their hard work and the choir teacher just isn't the "rah rah" type.  Joel still has to hunt up his choir letter because they never gave them out last year (or this year for that matter!  He has earned the letter so I have been pushing him to get it picked up!)  Anna will likely do the work for the band letter each year because she really enjoys all that it requires!

Here is Joel's last choir concert.  Like I said, not very "rah rah", but the seniors did receive a rose and they sang beautifully.

 

Joel and his good buddy Lexi each earned a church scholarship to go to study engineering next year at Iowa State.  (Carolyn earned the same scholarship as Joel 2 years ago, as they both were very active in the church youth group and religious education program.)

Senior night for soccer.  Joel played both JV and varsity.  It was great because they were so far ahead, he got to play twice in the varsity game.  (Ken was in Denver)

Track awards night.  This was the opposite of choir....very "rah rah".  They talked about each senior individually.  (oiy!) This coach started Joel's bit with "it isn't always about how fast you are", which made me smirk at Ken.  We both know that Joel was a part time track guy.  The coach then went on to tell a story about when he joined the cross country coaching team (different sport, same coach) and how he ran with Joel on "the long run" that they do Saturday mornings.  He said, "I thought to myself, if all the Centennial boys are like Joel, this is going to be a great job." (or something like that)  He went on and on about what a great kid Joel was, commenting that he was doing 2 sports....so he made up for saying, "it wasn't all about how fast you are".  

Joel didn't set any records, but he really was pretty fast (and a great kid, which is more important).

Joel's PR was 2 minutes, 21.07 seconds for 800 meters....just under a 1/2 a mile!  So really he was in the top tier of runners at the school, especially at that distance.  (It is like sprinting twice around the track!)