Reminiscing a little about (not) being DH

During Covid, our department head was called up to become associate dean. I recalled when I was interviewed in 2014, I was asked if I would be willing to be department head. At the time I had said yes, but give me some time please to get to know folks. Well, I'd certainly had some time, so I volunteered and was taken in. That happened about the time I stopped blogging (#not a coincidence?).

I think of being department head much like a calling at church. It's a service. You take it up for a time, do the best you can, then return to normal life when you are released. Folks take turns bearing the weight. Somebody's got to do it, and my (brief, unscientific) observations lead me to believe that I do a passable job with lower mental/emotional costs than it would give many others.

I gotta say, I really enjoyed the first two years or so of my term in office. Dean Shao was an outstanding mentor who gave me some clear expectations early on that happened to fit very well with my predispositions. The other department heads, associate deans, and I got along really well. Several said they had never been in a group as well-functioning and happy as ours. We laughed a lot and we made good progress together. The college became AACSB accredited, for one thing!

The faculty in the Accounting, Finance, and Economics department have all been wonderful to work with. I admire them. I trust them. They, each of them, care about the students, take pride in the work they do, and are reasonable people to work with who rarely let ego get in the way. Both I and the fellow who followed me as interim DH said we were willing to do this because the department really is filled with wonderful people. The three women who worked as administrative assistants for the department were a delight and I appreciated everything they were able to do for the students, the department, and me. Really, a great group of people to work with!

One part of the job I did not expect to love as much as I did was interviewing and hiring new faculty. When they came up for a fly-out interview, I told them that I wanted to conduct things as if they were the one we were going to hire, and it was my job to help them. Taking that attitude made otherwise awkward interactions much more gratifying! I appreciated each of the folks we interviewed and I am so pleased about the folks we did eventually hire. I think they are genuinely great hires and I have every confidence in them.

My daughter, the dancer

Nia, formerly known as "Princess" on this blog, has finished two years of dance at junior high. Here she is performing with her class.

She is just right of center at the start of each.

Nia: We were sad at the end of the year when we found out our teacher was leaving. I may not be doing dance anymore, but still. She was nice. She cared about how well we did in class and helped us improve. I'm a lot closer to being able to do the splits now, even if I never quite made it.

Parents discuss graduation - part 2 - the graduation ceremonies

DW: By the oddities of calendars, Hyrum graduated with an Associates degree in Arts and in Sciences before he got his high school diploma on May 23. He managed both with a 4.0. For pictures of his Ranger graduation, see here.

Driving to his Ranger graduation was an adventure. Both Waze and Google Maps did not know where Ranger College's auditorium is! We ended up behind their football stadium and on a dirt road or two before we finally found it.

Joy: I really loved the talk given by their returning graduate, but Hyrum thought it was too long. That graduation was the first Real feelings for me, that this is really happening and he is really becoming an adult ... and probably my first feelings of him really leaving. Like, it all felt more real with the graduation ceremony. And when they awarded the diplomas and they say, "We now proclaim you" whatever, I was really proud of all the high school students who did this. What an amazing accomplishment! I was glad he was able to sit with friends on the stand because they had few enough graduates they could all sit on the stage. (Only graduates from the high schools and certifications were at that particular graduation.)

DW: It was a pleasant ceremony. It was packed. I wish we could have sat closer so my camera could get a GOOD picture. Thankfully, a friend at work had a better seat and she got shots of Hyrum by her boy.

Joy: His high school graduation was memorable because he was valedictorian, but I really felt the Solemnity of his Ranger graduation, the feeling that My Boy is an adult and I should treat him like one.

DW: My parents came out for Hyrum's high school graduation, which we really appreciate. It was in the brand spanking new stadium, christened for the event. I was surprised fewer people mentioned that fact.

Joy: The whole city came! It was insane! They only ran out of pamphlets/programs two hours before it started!

[Left: Hyrum is the tall fellow ont he right.]

DW: We got up to the second story on the far side of the field, and could see the procession leaving the junior high across the street to prepare for the march across the new football field. You could hear the clanking of all the medals the lead students were wearing. In our last post, I showed Hyrum's many medals. He chose to only wear three for the graduation in his customary modesty - one for tennis, one for UIL, and Valedictorian.

The salutatorian gave a good speech about all their graduating class had been through, reviewing the past.

Joy: I appreciated the details she gave about the class as a whole.

DW: Here is his introduction:

DW: Then Hyrum stood and spoke of the future, which you can also hear at the earlier post. It was a spectacular thing, seeing him there at the very front of the graduates in the first chair.

Joy: He saw us and waved when he marched in. That was nice.

DW: I was touched that he not only mentioned his parents, but called us by name. He didn't have to.

Joy: We were definitely stars in his show.

Parents discuss graduations - part 1 - the road to graduation

DW: We alsways knew that Hyrum was very good at math. He finished algebra in 6th grade.  Sometime around 2019, we were discussing and debating how we were going to keep up with his voracious mathematical ability and his schooling in other ways. One issue was that he just wasn't challenged. He was getting 100 on absolutely everything they handed him and he was bored.

One day, I felt a prompting from the Spirit that we needed to have him skip a grade so that he could be about his life's work sooner. Normally skipping a grade would have happened some years ago already. But now was the time. So we started gearing up to figure out how to help him get through 6th, 7th, and 8th grade in 1.5 years.

Joy: I did leg-work with schools, talking about what they would require for him to skip a grade. They mostly said, "He can't." I said, "Okay, if he did x, would be qualified for the next grade," making scenarios until I figured out exactly what they needed to have happen, because they weren't willing to consider it.

I worked with Hyrum to help him test out of some classes through UT-Austin.

DW: I remember writing homework and tests for him for 7th grade history.

Freshman Hyrum,
Sep 2021

Joy: And we did a lot of practice STAAR science and STAAR algebra tests at home.

DW: And then COVID hit, just after his birthday. He has often said that one of his birthday presents - over spring break, just as lockdown started - was not needing to return to school that year.

Joy: I don't think he appreicated that birthday present. He didn't want to do school online at any moment in all of his life.

DW: But given that strong push, we enrolled him in a public online school for 7th/8th grade. They worked with us to identify what classes he had already finished thanks to his UT-Austin tests, and he took half-7th grade and half-8th grade classes that year 2020/2021. Full credit to Hyrum particularly for one of his science classes that he did almost exclusively through YouTube videos from Texas middle school teachers! And he used that to pass the STAAR science test. By the end of May 2021, we all were able to convince Stephenville that he had passed all the 8th grade STAAR tests and was ready for high school a year early.

Hyrum's biggest concern was that he would be a year younger and a year smaller than the boys in sports, and that would hurt his sports abilities. It likely did make some difference, but given that he has always been tall for his age, the difference wasn't as bad as it could have been. He was in soccer for a year and then switched to tennis where the team was more supportive and he had more of a chance to succeed.

That time he scored a soccer goal and 
his team made a bridge to cheer for him

Sophomore tennis

One of Hyrum's choices and personality traits that I admire is that in the last four years, I have not heard him speak ill of anyone. He made friends in both the grade he left and the grade he entered, and he kept both ties up. He did occasionally tell us stories about what happened that day that had us raising our eyebrows, but no matter what anyone did to him, he called them friends and would help them and do all he could on their behalf. His willingness to forgive is impressive.

Hyrum discusses graduation and goals

Hi there. Hy here.

Dad: Tell us about graduation.

Hy: In the weeks leading up to graduation, people kept asking me, "Is your speech ready yet? What's it about? Are you going to use brain rot?" And all I had was, "no. I will not." Eventually I did get it written and I was mainly focusing on the future and encouraging people to be grateful for the circumstances that come up in their lives, no matter how good or bad they are.

(Dad: Here is a compressed version of his speech.)

Dad: Years ago you decided you wanted to be valedictorian. I'm pretty sure that while Mom and I didn't tell you not to, we weren't overly encouraging. I kept trying to convince you that 93% is an A and that's good enough. You went on to get valedictorian and a double associates degree anyway. Tell us about your dream.

Hy: At the end of first semester freshman year, that was when we would get our grades and ranks for the first time. I was like, "Hm, maybe I might be number one, but I don't know everyone in our class." I saw my rank, and it was #2. And I said, "Hey, maybe I have a chance!" So that became my goal, and I tried to make my grades so I could get the #1 spot.

Dad: What was the hardest part?

Hy: It was definitely junior year when I was taking AP chemistry and AP calculus, cause those are the two hardest classes in our school. I was up late doing homework most nights. But that year was also the year when I had the best grades and gave me a big boost in the race.

Dad: What was the best part?

Hy: In the week before graduation and after, just knowing I had accomplished something really great and folks were cheering me on. 

Dad: The glow of victory. What did you like about your Ranger graduation?

Hy: The cookies at the end. *lol*

Dad: Those were good. [Pictures below the fold are from his Ranger graduation]