Is This The Last Day?

 Today MAY be my son's last day of school.  How can I be uncertain?  What kind of mom am I?  Well, it's complicated.

The last day of school is June 22nd.  That's also the evening of graduation.  So I KNOW (barring any unforeseen craziness...please let there NOT be any unforeseen craziness) that my son will be graduating from high school on June 22nd.

However, I believe this is the last day that he will be in his high school classroom.  Starting next week, he will be doing a Capstone project.  (Translation for me:  an unpaid internship.)  I've heard about "Capstone" from friends before but have never experienced it.  (It didn't exist when I was a senior in high school, which tells you how old I am!)

From my understanding, as a senior, Capstone is NOT a requirement (but it kind of feels like it is.)  Here's what it "is”: 

•  Starts 5/15/23 and Ends 6/16/23 -   5 weeks in the field (What field is going to "hire" you for 5 weeks)
• 20 Hours per week- must get weekly log signed and submitted (Makes sense, but why did the first weekly log have to be signed and submitted BEFORE the starting date?  I know hours are approximated, but why would a "supervisor" sign off on this BEFORE the student started?)
• Cannot be paid. 
• Cannot be your current job. (But if what you are currently doing ties to what you want to do in life you can't do it?)
• Cannot have a family member be your supervisor.  (Of course family members are the ones who would most likely help you out with a 5-week internship.)
• Must be related to your post-secondary plans.  (How many teens REALLY know exactly what they are going to do?  What about the "undecideds"?)
• Culminating report due June 16 along with a 4–5-page paper about what was learned. (Sounds like this is due on the 16th, but from what I understand it is not.   The Monday and Tuesday before graduation the student is supposed to write this report and turn it in.  Who is going to read all those papers in less than 2 days and determine if they are "good enough" and if not, what happens?)

With no real guidance (don't go there!), my son was sent out to find an internship.  And he did, completely on his own.  Although to be fair, the idea of assisting the middle school art teacher (because my son is going to be doing something with the arts) came about because he learned that a friend was assisting the elementary school art teacher.  Teaching art is NOT what he wants to do, but this WILL be a good learning experience for him.  He's already learned about what a PitA administrative bureaucracy is.  I think he will also have a good time working with this teacher (who he doesn't know as she was not teaching at the middle school when he was there), being a good example to the middle school students (or at least a cool example) and showing the teachers he did have while he was there how he turned out.

 As was pointed out to me by the parent of a student who had done this several years ago, NOT doing Capstone is actually the easy way out.  With most seniors interning, classes are effectively finished.  Going to school for those last 5 weeks would not be stressful, as all of the work has been done.  (Or should have been done...fingers crossed that my son has turned in all of what he had to.)  Of course this observation came too late for us.

 And so in just a few hours, our son will walk out of the high school classroom for the last time, I guess.  He does have to go back for some a night of music, an honor induction, a breakfast and rehearsal.   However, for all intents and purposes, school is over.  Really over.

 When that is going to hit me, I don't know.  It's all quite surreal.  Even though there is a sign on our front lawn proclaiming his impending graduation, it still seems so far off.  Yet it's not.

 I do know when it finally hits me, it will hit me hard.  So stand by with a box of tissues.  (And maybe Xanax.)  Today is the last day.