The third time was a charm. We had to reschedule twice because of rain, and between my schedule and his very busy summer, we were getting down to the wire of when we’d be able to do his session. But finally, we lucked out with a beautiful summer morning right before he flew out for two weeks of engineering camp. (He’s going to be studying mechanical engineering after graduation and is unsure which college he’ll end up choosing.)

Ben is heading into his senior year at West High and is an incredibly smart and friendly guy. We had a lot of fun walking all over the Iowa campus for his session, chatting the whole time. He is confident with a great sense of humor and he told me he recognized, even as a young teenager, how lucky he is to have his parents, the kind of family he was raised in, with love and affection and also a sense of responsibility and never complaining. (I was like, “Oooh, how did you parents teach you that last one? I have a 5 and 8 year old.”)