27 Comments on “Athena, on Her Last Day of Ninth Grade”

1. So mature looking! Have a great summer, Scalzis all. And Athena, rejoice in the knowledge that Oregon kids have another month of school to endure!

2. Wow1 She looks more like her mother every time you post one of these portrait shots. (Nice picture, by the way). Tenth grade next year, eh? Now the dad stress really begins. My daughter is 30 years old and I still get stress attacks. They probably never go away, so, welcome to the club and happy summer to Athena.

3. Nice photo. I can’t help it, but I have the Who song running through my head right now.

4. gosh she’s growing up fast and quite beautifully.

5. I am thinking Alice Cooper: School’s Out for Summer.

   Shortly after High School was over I was at home alone. I opened my windows and played School’s Out full blast on my stereo. Now, this was before the days of miniature IPOD speakers. My speakers were home made, and they were humongous!

   Anyway, song ended, and I split to my friends house.

   A minute or two after I left my dad arrived at the house.

   Shortly after that the police showed up on a noise complaint.

   Ahhh good times.

   I hope Athena has a wonderful summer!

6. She looks like she recovered quite well from the Great Pluto Fiasco of Crappiness. Enjoy your summer, Scalzis!

7. Congratulations one and all. Now, after Summer Vacation, she starts high school, again one of the young ones, working her way up to the glory and power of Senior-dom, then back to to frosh, at a college or university, and up the ramp again… Maybe someday teach at Robert Anson Heinlein University, Luna City… Right?

8. Congratulations, and have lots of fun!

9. Great picture of a beautiful young woman!

10. Happy summer, Athena (and parents.) :)

11. Nice picture! For the benefit of us ignorant non-Americans, who only have a wiki of American school systems to go by – does this mean that she’ll be going to Senior High, as on this chart?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_United_States

    Also – freely giving you a chance to reverse the usual roles, by gloating at us ignorant Europeans. Gloat ahead!

12. It is only May! What kind of school years do they have in Ohio?? My highschoolers have another month to go.

13. Holy crap, she’s growing up so fast! Is this one of those “omg I’m so old” days? I remember being in a restaurant with my son, and him legally ordering a beer. I thought I’d never recover, lol. My mom laughed at me.

14. @Nikitta

    When I started Elementary School, it ran from grades 1-6. Middle School was 7 and 8, and then High School was 9-12′ or Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years respectively. By the time I got to 5th grade, however, Middle School included 6th Grade, and High School remained unchanged.

    So if the Scalzi clan was in my hometown in California, or my adopted town in Oregon, she would have finished her Freshman year of High School. Since they are in Ohio, though, she could very well have just finished Junior High (as opposed to Middle School).

    So, long story short, even us Americans can’t even answer the question with certainty!

    Finally, I’m not sure where in Europe you reside but I had a long discussion with an Englishman once about their education system. I didn’t really think about it again until I read Harry Potter.

    Yeah insight!

    All the best,
    Paul

15. I should also add John that if the writing thing doesn’t work out for you, you should give photography a try!

    Deeply ironical humor aside, that is a great portrait.

    All the best,
    Paul

16. God, that seems early. Is it harvest season already? We’ve still got snow melting on the streets and polar bears roaming the neighborhood asking for bus fare home.

17. I’ve been hanging around here long enough, and have appropriately dilated memories of my own childhood enough, that the older she gets, the older I feel.

    …All the world’s a stage, I guess. May Athena’s next act bring the house down.

18. Minor nit: “in” or “of” Ninth Grade, but “on”? I don’t think so.

    Like other posters, I wish our school district finished this quickly, given the snow days we had to make up.

19. Dag. Given the troubles you guys had with the snow I’d think she’d have been stuck there at least until July.

20. *sigh* My last day of school isn’t until June 27th. Stupid Canadian school system….

21. I recently read “Waiting for Athena”, so it’s a bit of a shock to see her looking so close to grown-up. And echoing others: schools out already? Lucky kid.

22. Thanks, D. Paul. I’m from Denmark, where we have one kind of school from 1st to 10th grade, where the 10th is optional. High school is after that and two or three years, depending on which kind you want and some other schools also start after 10th grade, like if you want to work with your hands, and then there’s college ….

23. Chapeau Athena.

24. Allison, in much of the US it would be useless to have school at the end of June, because unless the school is air conditioned (and most are not) the students and teachers would be too busy melting to learn anything.

25. Happy Summer, Athena!

26. Xopher, I guess in Southern California school shouldn’t start until November, then. Sigh. Actually, that does explain some things about CA education…

27. @Nikitta

    I sometimes think we would benefit from a similar system near. I’ve met a lot of folks who are looking to have a career and decent paying job but don’t want to go to college. Trade schools would be an admirable solution to that I’d think.

    And, as long as I’m flirting with off topic, Denmark is on the list of countries I’d like to visit someday :-)

    All the best,
    Paul