Wisconsin Dancesport Championships

On the competition front, Catie will be very busy the next two weeks. She and Chris were in Milwaukee this weekend competing at the Wisconsin Dancesport State Championships. This was her first major competition with a field of 9 couples in her age group and ability level. She also added a fourth dance, the Jive to the mix. Actually Catie and Aaron found our an hour before the competition that they would be doing Jive, and pretty much learned it on the fly. Since the competition was in Milwaukee at the Pfister Hotel, Caties Grandma and her Aunt Julie were also able to attend and cheer her on. Catie and Aaron danced really well in Cha-Cha, Rumba and Samba. Then came the time for the dreaded Jive. They actually did well in the Jive except one part were they lost their way. That break was a costly one. Even with this penalty they took third place in the field of nine. Congratulations Catie!

The beginning of the Cha-Cha

The Samba Pose

Catie and Grandma Olga

The Decision of a Lifetime

It was in fall of 2007 that Alex attended the College fair at Minnetonka High School. Over the next 18 months there have been many ups and downs in his quest for higher education. What should his major be? Big school or small school? In state or out of state? Live at home or on campus? Many, many questions. All of which ran through many cycles before the picture started to come into focus. Alex was leaning more toward a big urban campus setting. The school needed to have a top NCAA sports program (especially football and basketball). Writing has become not only a passion for Alex, but the more he wrote the more obvious it become that it is also a gift. So, Journalism it is. Something he loves and is gifted at.

Now, the applications went out last fall, 10 schools in all. Going into the last couple of weeks the field had been narrowed down to two, Nebraska and Arizona State both of which have very good Journalism schools. He scheduled a campus visit for the University of Nebraska over spring break. So yesterday Alex, his good friend Ed, Ed's father Mark and I hoped in the car for the 7 hour drive to Lincoln NE. Upon arriving in Lincoln we drove past the UNL (University of Nebraska - Lincoln) football stadium which seats 100,000 crazy Cornhusker fans. I swear at that moment, the table in Alex's head started to tilt toward Nebraska. We spend this morning driving around both the campus and the city of Lincoln which is also the state capital. The more Alex and Ed saw, the more they liked.

In the afternoon, we had a wonderful campus visit. Various representatives of the admissions team spent 4 hours with the boys, meeting, touring and answering questions. In the end it was time to go. We had about a 4 block walk from the Admissions building to our car. In the time it took us to walk that distance, both Alex and Ed were in agreement that the University of Nebraska was where they wanted to go to college. In the end it met all the requirements of an urban centered, big campus, strongs sports program and a top 5 Journalism school. Alex is so excited and relieved to have closure on this. It is a decision that we pray will bare fruit for the rest of his life. I'm so proud of Alex for all he has accomplished getting to this point. I can't wait to see what the future holds for him.