The big night--Charlie's black belt test! He is so loved--not only did the family come out to cheer him on, but some of his deaf friends from school showed up, as well as his English teacher and his bus driver. (He's had the same bus driver for 5 years now, and they're quite fond of each other!)
It was a very entertaining evening, and he came out of it with his black belt. In fact, all 5 of the brown belts testing for black passed, which made it a really good night, because they all know each other and train together for this goal, and if any one of them doesn't pass, it's a bit of a bummer for the others on an otherwise happy night. Tonight the whole group passed, and each of them got a white zig-zag on their black belt (called a zebra) indicating that they are "provisional" black belts. That means there is one section of the test that they have to repeat because the judges want to see some refinements in that area. Charlie's provisional was in fighting. He fought really well, but they want to see better control. So, he will test again in August (right before leaving for college!) to try to get his provisional lifted to get rid of the zebra.
It might have a white stripe, but the belt is BLACK!!! Charlie is the first and only deaf black belt in Tompkins Karate Association.
Congratulations, ChinaBoi. I know this is a life-long dream of yours, and you've proven once again that DEAF CAN.
Charlie finally accepted the advice of his IEP team and realized accounting would not be a good career field for someone who can't sit still for very long. Once that realization set in, it wasn't such a big jump for him to decide that he should focus on getting admitted to RIT (again) rather than pursuing Gallaudet, since RIT is known for its technology majors.
Today, Charlie got his acceptance packet from RIT/NTID. He's been accepted and is hoping to major in electrical engineering. Yes, I know that could change--he may well come out with a degree in computer science or whatever. But the big point is: CHINABOI IS GOING TO COLLEGE!!
There was an extra little tidbit of news in that packet as well: He was awarded the President's Scholarship. That's $10,000 divided over 4 years. That's a thrill!
Now we've got to get busy applying for other scholarships, seeing what other help we can get. He will have some support from Voc Rehab, but we don't yet know how much, but given how expensive RIT is, I know it won't fully cover it and we're going to have to come up with a good bit ourselves somehow.
College-bound. OMG. My baby is going to college. Far away. I think I'm about to start hyperventilating...
