Conversations with Will

Will had 8 am lacrosse this morning. I do not like getting up early (meaning the regular time) on Saturdays. Saturdays are meant for sleeping in!

Anyway, after lacrosse, Will and I stopped at Carl's Jr. for an early lunch and chatted for a while. I asked him what his current goals were for where he wants his life to take him and his ready response surprised me! I had expected an "I don't know", really. But, in fact, he has some ideas!

He said he wants to go to Syracuse University in NYC because they have the best lacrosse team in the nation. He said he wants to keep playing his baritone (even in high school) so that he can get a scholarship from it to attend. -On a side note, his band teachers have pointed out that few people play that instrument, so scholarships are ridiculously easy to come by and don't require that you major in music or have a killer GPA. It apparently made a strong impression on him. By the way, Will was awarded first chair euphonium (baritone) over the other boy who is a 9th grader! We are very proud of him!

He also said he wants to be an underwater welder for a living! He says welding is lots of fun, the underwater part sounds like a great adventure, and he knows they make REALLY good money because it is a dangerous and narrow field of work.

I pointed out to him that I am not so sure there is an university degree in underwater welding. However, there is nothing wrong with getting a degree in something else, then working as an underwater welder anyway if that is what he wants to do! I suggested he look into some welding classes at the local applied tech. college for next summer and get back to me. I also told him he should look into scuba certification and let me know about that. And, of course, he should keep taking all kinds of different classes in school to see if something else sparks for him since he is only 13 and still has lots of time to make these kind of decisions!

To be honest, I could easily look up the welding and the scuba, but I want to see just how serious he is about it. I reminded him that starting this summer he would be in 9th grade, which is a high school grade. I told him that high school students can take courses at the tech college tuition free and that I would pay the lab fees if he wants to do it. We will wait and see if he means it! If he does follow through with the welding part of it and completes some training in welding, I'd be willing to follow it up with paying for scuba certification, too!

What a treasure of a kid! I love that he has some firm ideas about where he wants to go in life!