Nope, we had a shelter that was large enough to fit 100 people at a time. We prayed a lot and ended up with a beautiful, warm, sunny day and had a fabulous time outside!

We're having dd's graduation party on Sunday afternoon (graduation ceremony is on Saturday, late afternoon-evening). We are hosting it at a local park/lake under at large shelter. We're going to have food (pork BBQ sandwiches, beans, slaw, hot dogs, fruit, veggies, chips, and cake), outdoor games (volleyball, cornhole, frisbee, etc) and there is also a playground nearby. It is a family-oriented event consisting of about 80-100 of her friends, our friends, and a few family members.

Our disappointments came not on the academic end, but on the financial side. Our daughter was accepted to four out of the six schools she applied to and waitlisted at one of the others. She received the highest merit based scholarship at one of the schools (High Point University) and a merit scholarship and fellows scholarship at Elon. However, even with need-based financial aid at both schools, we would have been left with other $26K in loans. Considering our EFC is $1536, there was simply no way to make that happen. Our daughter made a wise (albeit difficult) decision to go to a school that offered her the largest merit scholarship. She'll be able to graduate with very minimal debt (likely way under $18K for all 4 years). Since she is planning on getting her masters and possibly her doctorate, she does not want to accumulate a ridiculous amount of debt in undergrad.

Daugher Wingate University, presidential scholarship, High Point University, presidential scholarship, honors Elon University, presidential scholarship, finalist for Honors Fellows University of North Carolina-Charlotte

So far, dd is 3 for 4. She's been accepted to Wingate University, High Point University and Elon University, all with their presidential scholarships. She did not get into Davidson. At this time, Elon is her top choice. She is still waiting to hear from UNC-Charlotte (January 1) and Wake Forest (April 1).

My daughter received her first acceptance and a rather large scholarship this past weekend while touring a school. It is her "bottom choice" out of all those she applied to, but it was still great to get that first acceptance and have $$ included as well. It will remain an option depending on the outcome of her other applications.