He did it...he finished his first year of school!

And not only did he finish, but he was given an awesome award at the end of year Awards Ceremony for overall excellence in his class which was an award given to a top student in the class who showed great work ethic and overall effort.

This award is nominated by the instructors of the course and was presented to Jim by one of the Associate Deans of Trades from the Nanaimo campus. James and my mom and dad came to VIU for the ceremony and I was busy taking pictures for the ceremony so I didn't feel like I really got to experience the moment like everyone else did, but I was happy to be able to at least get a good picture of it!

Luckily this picture wasn't as fuzzy as some of the shots from that day. The lighting in our gym is terrible and lots of photos didn't turn out great but man was I grateful that this one did!

Shaking his instructor Gary's hand before being presented with his award.

My boys and I really couldn't be more proud of Jimmy for all that he's done over the past year. He got laid off from his job in Alberta and while laid off made a huge life decision to go back to school at the age of 35 to try to start a new career. He has always loved working outside and building things was always something that has interested him so carpentry was a natural choice. We are lucky that here at our relatively small VIU campus that carpentry is one of the 5 first year trades that we do offer. We knew it would be a huge risk and big change for our family with him being in school full-time but we also knew it was time for Jim to really figure out what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

From the first day he started school until the day the guys went out to their building site in November, Jim studied almost every single night....after learning all day, picking James up after school and either doing swimming or skating lessons, then picking up Jordie and making supper while I worked until 6pm. Then we ate as a family and got the boys off to bed, and then at 8pm he'd usually sit down for 2-3 hours to read his textbook or study for one of the many tests he had to take. He truly did incredible and I really couldn't be more proud of him. I know it wasn't easy for him to be the old guy in a class of much younger guys who a lot of the time just didn't care to be there. It was frustrating for Jim, but he did it, and I think not a single guy in that class would say they have anything but respect for him for what he did. On site he worked harder than all of the other 8 people put together and often got more done in an hour than 5 guys did put together. But no matter what, he knew he was there to learn so he put his head down and learn he did.

He may not have finished at the very top of the class (don't ask him about that though...he's maybe slightly bitter) but he did finish in 2nd and ended up with the most important award of all. I think it's way better to be recognized for overall achievement than just for having the top academic marks. It means something to work hard and to be recognized for that.

We love you Jimmy and we are so so very proud of you for all that you accomplished this past year! Now, onto a year of working with a great local contractor, and then hopefully some time in 2017 he will head back to school for his 2nd year of schooling!