Congratulations to Donald Drouillard!

Don has just graduated from the fifth grade.



Yep, school is out for another summer. Everyone seems to have passed. Don, in fact, did very well.

Tustin High School had a graduation ceremony for the kids who are going on to the middle school. Everyone got a medal and a graduation certificate.



Those who participated in the special olympics got a nice certificate, too.



Some kids made special progress, and got the Star Galaxy Award.



Don has a big interest in science. He devours all the information he can get. Since he is excited about it, and talks about it quite a bit, most of the people around the school know about this.

Truthfully, Don is quite good at it. I suspect that it won't be too long before he manages to stump me. I'm not going to make it easy, though. To do that would be to cheat him out of the excitement he'll get when it finally happens.

Anyhow, some of his teachers gave him a special Future Scientist award.



This boy sure has come home with a pile of awards!

I know that the modern trend is to nurture the self-esteem. There are some good points and some bad points with that policy. If properly done, it works well. If you find something good, and comment on it honestly, it helps greatly.

A lot of awards are given because the person overcame some special challenges to accomplish what might be easy for the rest of us. Other awards are given for accomplishments that are difficult for all of us.

The last two awards are not of the 'wheelchair race' category. They are awards that anyone would be proud to earn.

Michigan likes to test all of the school kids to monitor the effectiveness of our education system. Those children who excel on the standardized tests are given a special award.



We have all heard of the President's Physical Fitness Awards. Why is the President's Academic Achievement Award less well publicized?

Anyhow, Don received one. It is signed by President George W. Bush himself/



Pretty good for a kid who has been diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Delay - Not Otherwise Specified, eh? I'm so proud of him!