Wishes for my kid’s fall semester

So today, I’m here shamelessly campaigning for my kid’s video from her summer camp experience. She was in Tanzania doing community service, helping to build a school in the village of Njoro.

In July, when Gabi caught a flight out of JFK International for her life-changing trip, she left as a somewhat spoiled 17-year-old kid who had all the comforts of suburbia. Seventeen days later when I went to pick her up, she was a much more thoughtful person. She loved being around the little children and seeing how other folks lived. At last, she also said she really appreciated her high school! My baby seems more self-aware now too.

But she is still a spoiled kid from suburbia with a messy room who drags her feet when I ask her to help with the dishes. Let’s not even bother to ask her to help vacuum the house; what a waste of my energy and breath.

One way I know that Gabi had an incredible time — she just made a video about her vacation as part of a competition hosted by the summer camp company,  Rustic Pathways. The camper who takes first place gets Final Cut Pro editing software. There are other also giveways for the runners up  (a Kindle, etc. etc.).

But my daughter says she’s not doing this for the prizes.

Then, why?

“Because I want to win,” she said.

“Why?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said.

Well, this passes for a really interesting conversation in my house. Maybe you’ll help me keep the good vibes going…

Can you take an excursion to YouTube now and watch her video, “Tanzania: the Faces of East Africa?” And if you like it, could you hit the “like” button underneath the video?

Gabi took all the pictures in the video herself — I’m very proud of her photography. I would normally embed the video here (what’s below is just a pic) for your viewing pleasure. But today, I need you to click on the link so that you can get to that all-important “like” button. Here’s the link: http://youtu.be/wQoarR-8y7Q

As a parent, it’s thrilling for me to see motivation of any sort and I’d like to encourage the passion. She has just started her senior year of school. My hope is that she has a lot of fun discovering more people and things that she cares about, and that she has a lot of fun.

And…what about you? If you have a kid in school or are in school yourself, would love to hear about your back-to-the-classroom memories for Fall 2012 — and your wishes for the season.

Thanks again for sharing on every level.  xo