Parent Statement

My son Jared is a very kind and compassionate young man. He is 14 years old. He is very passionate about basketball and has been playing for the past four years. He plays with his school as well as with a travel team every Saturday and Sunday from 6:30-9am. He is very focused and determined to excel academically as well as in basketball. He has always been strong in math and has been on the math team since 5th grade. Learning remotely during the pandemic was difficult for Jared as I’m sure it was for many children. Jared is very self aware for his age. He would often say to me: “Mom, if I could just go out and play basketball I know that would help me to be even more focused and have more energy.” I ended up buying him a basketball hoop so that he could play indoors and it did help his focus and gave him more energy. Always thinking of others, he was concerned about the noise playing basketball in the apartment would disturb out downstairs neighbors. He went downstairs to speak with them to let them know about his new basketball hoop and asked if they would mind the noise. Our neighbors know how passionate Jared is about basketball, so we worked out a schedule where there would not be too much disruption. We have a rule in our home that all electronic devices are to be turned off and/or put away. Jared often asks me for extra time as he is often helping a classmate with an assignment or studying as part of a study group that he helped organize. Jared wakes up at 6am 3 days a week to be at basketball practice for school. He also wakes up at 5:30am every Saturday and Sunday to practice with his travel team. Jared is a wonderful brother to his younger sister. He looks out for her and often helps her with homework. Jared takes his sister to school a couple of days a week and many times accompanies her to her classroom. He is very responsible. Jared is very well liked by his peers and tends to show great leadership at school and on the basketball court. If Jared gets an incorrect answer on a math exam he will often go back to see an redo the problem to figure out the correct answer. Jared participated in a summer program last summer where he won the academic scholar as well as the sportsmanship award. Jared is very helpful around the house often doing dishes or taking out the trash during dinner. He often volunteers to make dinner. He enjoys volunteering at church on Sundays to assist those less fortunate. He sometimes babysits our neighbors 7 year old son. I am often told my adults what a polite and kind young man he is. I believe Jared will bring his leadership qualities, his kindness and compassion, and his academic and athletic competitiveness as well as his infectious smile to a new school community.