Glory Days

Chapter 30: The Summer Program Offer

-Emme-

I walk into Madison hall, the hall where my consoler, Mrs. Crossroads, office is. I knock on her door and hear her say come in. I open her half-closed door and close it behind me.

"Ah, Emme just who I wanted to see. How are you doing?" She asks.

"Pretty good, actually. I saw your email last night that you wanted to see me?" I say. She nods her head and opens a file next to her computer.

"A couple of days ago I received a letter from the University of Chicago about their high school summer programs this summer, and I think one of them would interest you." She says and hands me a packet.

"University of Chicago Architecture Summer Program. I though they only had architecture as a Minor." I say, confused.

"Yes, they do. But this program is more about studying the archetechture of Chicago, which I must say is very impressive. You would stay in the dorms and use their lecture halls but explore the city most of the time. This will help you understand architecture more and see if you want to go into it."

"This is amazing." I say as I read through the packet. But on the last page, it says the price is around $1,500 for the fie week program. "But..."

"The price?"

"Yeah." I say and look down.

"I can help you find a scholarship that will pay for some of it, but if you really want to go into architecture, this will help you out a lot in the long run." Mrs. Crossroads says. I nod my head.

"I'll ask my dad when I get home. Thank you for telling me about this." I say.

"Of course, and as you know my door is always open." She says. I smile and walk to my homeroom. I sit in my normal seat and start reading through the packet, which explains what will happen each week and what skills I will learn and use.

"What's that you have there?" I hear Mark ask. I look up at him and smile.

"It's a summer program in Chicago that my counselor recommended I should do." I tell him.

"Oh that sounds fun, what's it for?"

"Architecture."

"Wow, that's really cool. Chicago is a good city to look at that stuff." He says. "Aaron said you were interested in architecture."

"Yeah, I told him I wanted to go to tech when he said he was interested in going there too." I say. Maark looks a little sad when I mention Virginia Tech.

"Right. Virginia Tech. Dream school of like everyone here." He says.

"What do you mean?" I ask, putting down the packet and completely turning to face him.

"It's just, everyone wants to go to Tech or UVA or JMU, I want to get out of Virginia as soon as I can, to be quite honest." Mark says.

"Where do you want to go then?" I ask. He thinks for a minute.

"Well, I toured NYU, Pitt and Penn state a couple of weekends ago. I really like NYU and Penn. I also want to visit American University eventually this summer."

"Those are good schools." I say. He nods his head and pulls out his homework. I turn back to my packet. I really hope my Dad says yes.

--

I walk home quickly from the bus stop only to find out my dad isn't home early for once. Maybe he's actually at work. I start on my homework and clean the house by the time he arrives home. He goes straight to the fridge and pulls out a beer.