Happy sweet sixteen Bethany!

July 31, 2024

Happy 16th Birthday Bethany!!

You're about 5'2" and we think that's your final adult height. I call you "Fun Size." You are small but mighty!!
You finished your sophomore year of high school with a great GPA and passed two more AP exams!
You were in SAIL (The AP Program), AP Capstone Club, FCA, Next Gen, Key Club, Interact, Mu Alpha Theta, and TriM.
You continued to play french horn and mellophone. The marching band made it to state this year and both the concert band and marching band received straight superiors at district competitions. You played a solo at district solo and ensemble and received a superior which qualified you for state where you also earned a superior. You also mentored a new french horn player and the two of you performed a duet at solo and ensemble. The band also played in the Magic Kingdom parade during a spring break band trip to Disney! To cap off the year, you were selected as section leader for the 2024-2025 year and you have a solo in the marching show!
You attended Chrysalis this year and remain active in the youth group at our church and at another church with friends. You also attend several Christian clubs at school. You love doing devotions each day and we love watching you grow in your faith.
You continue to be interested in environmental engineering and you volunteered as part of the Teen Outreach Committee with the St. Andrew and St. Joseph Bay Estuary Program. You also volunteered in their lab this summer, helping prepare collection containers and collected and prepared oyster shells for the vertical oyster garden efforts.
You also volunteered with an org called Cards for Hospitalized Kids and plan to start a club at school to get more people involved.
You'd like to go to University of Florida but this year we'll really have time to explore options as we begin to tour different colleges. Can you believe it's time for college tours already?
You earned the President's Volunteer Service Gold Award this year for your 100+ hours of community service, all completed in the span of a year. About half of your volunteer hours came from babysitting for a local foster family. We had to say bye to those sweet little ones as they moved to a new home but we will never forget the impact they had on our lives!
Your favorite foods are seedless watermelon, popcorn, chick fil a, pizza, spaghetti, any fruit, and chocolate.
You love to be outside: riding your bike, going for walks on the rails to trails near our house with your friends, doing archery in the backyard, or swimming.
You like KPop, an eclectic mix of a lot of other music/artists, Percy Jackson, and any action movies/books.
We don't see you as much these days as many of your friends got their licenses this year enabling you all to go where you wanted without parent chauffeurs. You have some pretty amazing friends and we're thankful that you have such great groups of people to have fun with and to support you!

You continue to be such a mature, kind-hearted, loving person. You are introverted but very social. You are a peacemaker and the very best at making others feel special with thoughtful homemade cards and carefully selected gifts. You work so hard whether it's band, school work, or serving others. But I love that you can also relax and have fun too! It was a tough year academically and with all the other things you were striving to achieve but you really persevered and your efforts show! More than what you do, we just love who you are. Christ in you is a really beautiful thing and I can see Him at work in you in mighty ways. We look forward to seeing what this year has in store! Happy birthday to our sweet, beautiful Bethany!

Trip with Mom to NYC