Yes.....Patrick WILL Graduate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We knew Patrick was in trouble when he failed Economics the first Semester of school this year. It meant he had to go to Credit Recovery and he had to pass that class in order to graduate, as it's a required course. He kept telling me he was going and then I found out that most of the time he was staying after, talking to friends in the parking lot, or telling me that the class was cancelled. Then came the nightmare of him failing American Government the first quarter of school...straight A's in every subject but the one he needed to get it in! His guidance counselor would call once a week in the beginning, just to let me know that he wasn't doing what needed to be done. Then we had a conference with the guidance counselor, him, and his teacher. He promised he would do better. With only 4 weeks left, at the time, he still had 5 chapters to go in Credit Recovery....you took a test at the beginning of the chapter, if you passed, it was on to the next, if not, you had subchapters to do and then a test at the end, if you passed that, on to the next, if not, you had to redo the subchapters. It was taking him 2 weeks to do a chapter, then the subchapters and there was 7 to go through. His guidance counselor started talking to him each day, or as he put it, harrassing him each day, telling him he wouldn't graduate, so he might as well drop out or give it up. Yeah, I didn't like hearing that, but it was forcing him to face reality. I told him, and so did his friends, that it would be really sad for him to go all these years to school and then not graduate because he was slacking off. Then came the daily phone calls from the guidance counselor and the projects for his American Government class. He and I learned a lot about Presidents, nomination and election processes, impeachment processes, what the President's job descriptions are and the 15 different departments of the Cabinet does...an 80 line poem was written on that one. He had to write down everything, and then his teacher would ask him questions to make sure he actually knew it...and that was for the Judicial Branch too....still don't understand how Marbury vs. Madison helped the Supreme Court become an equal branch of government, but that's okay, I did learn about all the Freedoms we have, including the Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Press, Freedom of Religion, etc., and the court cases that backed up each one. So it came time for Patrick's final exam yesterday. I prayed all day that he would get a high enough grade to pass the course, dreading the end of the day because I would either get a phone call from him yelling in happiness, or one from his counselor telling me he failed and wouldn't graduate. At 3:40, the phone call came, and the guidance counselor was on the other end...this was the conversation:
Counselor: Mrs. Dowdal?
Me: Yeah
Counselor: Tammy?
Me: Yeah
Counselor: I just want to let you know that this is the last official phone call you'll get from me. The last official phone call you'll get from the school.
Me: (Not registering everything she just said because my heart and had dropped and I thought I was gonna pass out from bad news) Okay.
Counselor: I'll let Patrick tell you the news.
Me: (Sounded like she was really upset and waited for any good news coming from Patrick) Okay
Patrick: Hey Momma, just wanted to let you know I failed the exam and won't be graduating.
Me: WHAT????????
(In the background I hear laughing and "Don't tell her that, you're gonna give her a heart attack!)
Patrick: I'm just joking, I passed.
Me: Don't do that, it's not funny. Did you really?
Patrick: Yeah, I did.
By this time, I was choked up and couldn't talk for a second, but finally said Congratulations and how proud I was.

I am very proud of him. He worked hard, slacked off alot, could've worked a lot harder and never had to put this much pressure on himself, but he did do it. Of course his teacher and his counselor have a lot to do with it too, and I thank them very much. Those two are extraordinary and the school board is lucky to have them, and so are we.