Build the Wall Earns Scholarships, Y’all

All right, I know that I just bragged a few weeks ago about my 9th grader at Brother Martin High School being awarded the Navy SEAL Jacques Fontan NJROTC Cadet of the Year Award (of course, if you read the post, it wasn’t really bragging); but now I’m going to brag, sort of, about my 12th grader at Brother Martin High School winning a college scholarship from the Republican Women’s Club of Jefferson Parish.  He did so by coming in first place – and beating out the 2nd place finisher, a student from Jesuit – in an essay writing contest in which he addressed the exigent need for building The Wall.  For those of you who might be wondering (and those who know me won’t be), I contributed not so much as a comma to his efforts.  In fact, he did not even allow me to read his essay until after the results of the contest were announced.  And I was totally fine with that.

Peter, the oldest of my three sons, is a senior at Brother Martin High School and will be graduating shortly.  He’s a self-starter, writes really well, and in my opinion gave a great presentation today.  I’m incredibly proud.  However, if I know Peter – and I think I do – what he is hoping for most of all is that he can touch off an autocatalytic reaction of sorts by inspiring a few who inspire more, and so on, to have the confidence to make the same sort of effort that he did.  That would be his definition of success.

I’ll wrap things up by saying that we are extremely grateful for the efforts of the RWC of Jefferson Parish in organizing today’s luncheon in honor of my son.  Everything was perfect.  And special thanks go to club members Debbie Albert, Faith Peperone, and Jean Rice for spearheading the effort.  And last but not least, Jefferson Parish Councilwoman Cynthia Lee-Sheng was very generous in her congratulations to Peter, and she was especially inspirational in her comments regarding the bright future of Jefferson Parish.  Thank you so much, Councilwoman Lee-Sheng.