The picture is from Ben's wedding.

I got this email yesterday:

Pete,
If you haven't heard the news yet, you were selected as the top student for our entire division... this is ALL of the workforce degree programs (nursing, cardiovascular tech, occupational therapy, business, computer degree programs, respiratory therapy and many more). The ceremony date/time is listed below. I'll be attending as well... definitely bring any family or guests to celebrate with you!!
Congratulations!!!
:-) Tina

I am so pumped that I can’t even handle it. I have just wanted to call everybody and tell them that I was voted as student of the year. Student of the year. I didn’t know that there ever was such a thing. I do remember that in kindergarten there was the VIP award. The person who earned this award had a little sleeve thing that slipped over the back of their chair that said VIP. This person always got to be in the front of the line and had first pick from the ball bin at recess and whatnot. I never won that award. I believe that I have never won any scholastic award. One time I had a vase submitted into an art show in high school. I don’t even think that I earned the presidential physical fitness certificate in elementary or middle school. I am thrilled that I have made enough change in my life to merit any award. I think one of the parts that thrills me the most is that I didn’t even have to do anything to get it except for be me. Be who I am. I didn’t apply for it. I didn’t enter into any contests. I just went to school every day and did my best. I thought my greatest reward aside from the things I have learned over the last couple years was the A’s on my transcript, the degree in few semesters, and ultimately a job that I would love as well as support my family with.

As mentioned in a previos post, I got an email from one of my dearest instructors that said roughly this:

Pete, I'm finishing up your nomination for top AOJ student. I still need you to complete your biography. Here's a blank form to type it on. I previously (a week or two ago) sent you an example to follow -- but am sending an example again. Please fill out your biography on the blank form & send it to me ASAP. This puts you in the running for top division student. I'll email you the final nomination that I type up for you.

So I did.

I guess that all of the deans from each department got together with their nominations, and voted on who should be the top division student of the year. The email at the top of this post was the result. Holy crap. Who’d’ve thought.
Something I said on my first Saturday lab at Grossmont College was this: “Wow, I am actually paying money to go to school at 8 am on a Saturday morning. If my 17 year old self were to walk around that corner and see me right now I would seriously knock me out for acting like such a nerd.”
It is just kind of fun for me to actually be able to exercise and enjoy my love of learning. It is just icing on the cake for me to have somebody besides my wife say: “good job learning new stuff,” especially when that someone is not just the person teaching me some of the coolest stuff I could never even imagine, but all the heads of all the programs that make up the largest division in my school.
Wow. What a feeling.