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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: TREND (12/07/23)
“Mama, I really screwed up.” Susan could feel the pain in her oldest son’s voice over the phone line. Sam had performed less than stellar during his first semester of college. His plan had been to apply for MSU’s school of business at the end of his Freshman year, but with a 1.8 GPA his grades were much lower than required. He had only one semester to make up for the gaping difference.

Susan had feared these grades were coming. During phone calls over the past Fall, it seemed very obvious to her that Sam’s classes were not the priority. When she asked him about a particularly difficult class, he would divert the conversation to the “awesome football game” the previous weekend. When she suggested he seek tutoring before an upcoming test, he was full of excuses as to why the resource center’s schedule didn’t fit into his fraternity duties. There was a definite trend here; fun was glaringly more important than academics. Sam seemed to have forgotten why he was even at college.

By the time her son ran out of excuses as to why his grades “weren’t available yet”, it was late the night before Christmas Eve. Susan had almost pinned him against a wall, and demanded he log into the university’s website to retrieve his grades (pretty confident she was not going to like what she saw). Her husband, Andrew, had already gone to bed, so she had the privilege of delivering the news to him the next morning before he left for a half day of work and some last minute Christmas shopping.

They had spent more money than they ever had on a child's education. It felt a bit like a slap in the face. Andrew was angry, disappointed, sad and confused as he left the house that morning. Susan felt pretty much the same way.

Over Sam’s three week Christmas break, they had numerous private conversations about what went wrong, how to “do college” differently, etc. These conversations included an ultimatum letting Sam know that he would not be going back to MSU as a sophomore if things didn’t change.

Still, nothing hit him as hard as his academic advisor recommending he change his plans because he “didn’t have a chance” of getting into the school of business. His first semester GPA, he was told, was simply too low.

When Sam called his mom that cold January morning after leaving the adviser’s office, he was in tears. He was angry with himself and didn’t know what to do next. Only by God’s good grace, was Susan able to set aside her own anger, and tell Sam to get a second opinion.
“I can’t believe you only get one chance,” she told him.
Sam followed her instruction, and the second class adviser told him it was unlikely, but if he got close to a 4.0 GPA his second semester, it wasn’t totally impossible. There was hope.

Andrew and Susan held their breath and prayed like crazy all of Sam’s Spring semester. During a couple of phone calls, Susan could almost sense Sam slipping -trending back to his old ways, and she would provide a much needed reminder of the high stakes. But for the most part, he was a very different student.

Sam finished his second semester with a 3.8 GPA and found out late that May that he had indeed been accepted into the school of business. Driving to MSU to pick him up for the summer, Susan praised God for this whole situation. For four months she and her husband could do nothing but wait and pray, but their son had grown so exponentially over the past nine months that it was well worth all of their angst.

And she was reminded yet again, God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and growing us is always His primary concern.
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This article has been read 303 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Bonnie Clarkson
12/19/23
Personal trends are so important and you did a good job of showing it for the son. I would like to have seen less about his grades and more about the steps that brought about the change. Still a good job.
Loved the ending that mentions God does not trend, but always the same.
Some editors do not like quotes for first lines. They like it to include setting, character, and conflict.
Keep writing.
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
12/21/23
This is a lovely story. My son struggled, but in a different way. He had severe learning disabilities, yet managed to scrape through high school, do okay in college and finally get his Master's in theology at the grand school of Duke. His hard work combined with prayers and faith in God did amazing things. Double check some of your punctuation, capitalization, and quotation mark rules. These are all little things though You did a nice job of writing on topic and delivering a powerful message.
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
12/22/23
Congratulations on your EC! Happy Dance!
Loni Bowden-Horn 
12/24/23
Ellen,

Congratulations on your 1st place entry in Editor's choice.

You had the reader riveted from beginning to end. I was especially interested in learning the ending since my dad and niece graduated from MSU.

May your son continue on his path to excellence,and was so happy for him that he learned from his mistakes and changed path.

May God continue to help him finish his race.


Marlene MCPherson
01/04/24
I like your article and congrats!