What A Kid!

In preparation for being named the official team captain of his Robotics team next year, T has taken on a LOT of responsibility this season (Exhibit A: the "Things To Do" whiteboard, written entirely in his hand).

Every day after school for the last 6 weeks until 8:30 pm, and Saturdays from 8 am - 8 pm, he has been in the shop, working on the design and construction of this robot. During that time, he has maintained a 4.0 GPA and continued to attend his early morning scripture study class at 6 am each day (only missing once or twice during the entire 6 weeks).

Tomorrow at 10 pm the robot will be bagged, tagged and locked away until competition begins in March. For the first time in the 6 years we have been involved in Robotics, his team will end the build season with a second robot (identical to the first) that they can use for practice between now and the start of competition.

T was instrumental in making that happen. He has also been chosen to drive the robot in this year's competition. His teammates and coaches often refer to him as "da real MVP."

When you see your child for less than an hour a day for over a month, you don't always grasp what amazing things they are accomplishing. Today as we served lunch to the team, we heard many comments from fellow students and mentors about how much they like and respect T, and what a great job he's done leading the team this season.

The moral of the story is twofold: first, as G reminded T last week, you don't need an official title to be a leader. Second: "Don't let yourself become so concerned with raising a good kid that you forget you already have one."