Depending on how Brainy Bird’s final exam schedule works out, he has twenty three or fewer days left of high school. While there are days that he appears beyond exhausted, there are seldom moments when he appears down or unhappy. For too long, he was unhappy more often than he was happy. He survived a nerd’s life in junior high and high school, and now an exciting new chapter of life awaits.
Everything that Brainy Bird has worked for is now paying off, and he has an incredible future ahead of him. On March 26th, we received the official notification that Brainy Bird has been chosen as a Stamps Scholar by the University of South Carolina. On the Sunday that followed, I got to sit next to Brainy Bird while he accepted his scholarship and enrolled in the University of South Carolina. He is going garnet as they say!
In total the Stamps Scholarship is $191,000. This means that Brainy Bird can go out of state to college, and he will graduate debt free. This is incredible. The best part is that the University of South Carolina has been one of Brainy Bird’s top choices all along.
First, we received the letter notifying us that Brainy Bird was chosen as one of the forty five out of state Top Scholars from over 41,000 applicants. That was the day before he turned eighteen. I can’t remember what I got him for his birthday; I doubt he remembers. As he said, that letter was the best birthday gift ever. The letter explained that of the forty five Top Scholars, five students would be chosen for the top award, the Stamps Scholarship. The next twenty would be awarded the McNair scholarship, and the remaining twenty would be awarded the Horseshoe scholarship.
We deeply hoped that he would be picked for the McNair scholarship. The award is substantially more than the Horseshoe, and it includes a stipend to study abroad. We never dreamed that he would land in the top five and be named a Stamps Scholar. He has already attended two virtual networking events for Stamps, and I can tell he really enjoyed both of them.
We received the letter about the Top Scholars scholarship on the Tuesday before we were already set to tour the campus. The South Carolina campus is beautiful. It has a positive, friendly vibe to it. Brainy Bird said to me after our guided tour, “I would like to go here.” This is one of those moments that I will always remember.
The Honors College is what first attracted Brainy Bird to the University of South Carolina. They have the number one honors college in the nation among public schools. The program gives Brainy Bird the opportunity to study subjects other than computer science in a structured way. Having electives is extremely exciting to a child that took all advanced work in high school and never had the opportunity to choose courses outside of his STEM track.
Of course, he will be majoring in computer science. I had no idea that he secretly wanted to major in math too. I found this out when we learned that South Carolina offers a track to double major in computer science and math. He has a semester before he needs to officially decide, but he will likely double major in computer science and math. He is already working on his vector calculus, which will be his first college math class in the fall. The course is required for both the computer science and the math degree. That love for math apple fell really far from the tree of Mom, rolled down a mountain, floated through an ocean, and washed ashore in a far away land.
He will live in the honors dorm, which means that he will be surrounded by other top students. We have already gotten to meet some of the kids through the interview process for the Stamps Scholar award. He is going to be among an incredible bunch of kids.
This past week, Brainy Bird and his dad were treated to a visit to the University of South Carolina. Dad, Brainy Bird, Little Chirp and I grabbed breakfast the Saturday that they returned. Dad told me over breakfast that any and all reservations he had were addressed in their visit. I could see a light of happiness in both their eyes.
I laughed when Dad shared his list of reservations, which the visit addressed. Dad was worried about the quality of housing, weather, the food, and Brainy Bird not having a car. Given how skinny the child his, some of these are real concerns! Dad was not just satisfied with the food options, he was excited about them.
I liked that a great deal of his references about his trip were conversations with students they met during their visit. We visited so many colleges over the years. There are some with students that embrace visitors and some that literally shun them. It is important to me that Brainy Bird go to school in a friendly, inclusive place.
I remember that I had two reservations going into our visit of South Carolina last fall. The first was the quality of the computer science program, and the second was job placement. I am more than impressed with the computer science program, and the professors that we have met thus far. Brainy Bird has truly found his new home. He has already found his new Ms. Coronado at South Carolina. Ms. Coronado is his incredibly enthusiastic high school engineering teacher. He will undoubtedly soon find the college version of Mr. Monroe. Mr. Monroe, is Brainy Bird’s high school computer science teacher and mentor.
As far as job placement goes, there is no question that Brainy Bird will have lots of career and graduate school options coming out of South Carolina with a computer science degree. I have a feeling the honors college will introduce him to an idea that will wind up being the catalyst for him starting his own business. He has already had his own little IT consulting company (By Chance Solutions) for a couple of years. He is not afraid to jump in and chase his dreams.
So, the next chapter for Brainy Bird is college out of state at the University of South Carolina…
This is a happy era in the roller coaster of parenting.
It feels good to receive affirmation from Brainy Bird that my guidance was right. I set the bar high, and he struggled at times, but ultimately catapulted over that bar. The best affirmation is Brainy Bird giving his little brother the same advice that I gave him. Little Chirp is inspired by Brainy Bird’s accomplishments, and he is gearing up to out do his brother. Little Chirp’s only grade that is not above a 97 right now is orchestra. If he carries this into high school, he may not out do his brother, but he will certainly have plenty of collegiate options of his own.
Stay tuned for that next chapter…