Regarding Grades: I emailed this reply:
Hi Jordy,
I didn’t see you on the way out the door and didn’t want to bother you post fire drill as you filled out paperwork. Jackson was a complete no show again today which means he did not deliver on past due assignments, nor do I have them. Between you, your Mom and me (but I don’t want to let Jackson know yet) but his comprehension is off the charts in his ability to absorb concepts in broadcast journalism as well as the ‘how to’ mechanics. My grade for him is at worst an A-minus but more likely an A. I have to see the work he says he has completed but not yet show me / turned in—or into the system. By the way, I believe he’s actually completed the work because I ran a verbal quiz on him about details which he could not have known unless he did the work.

Presuming a University student majoring in Journalism doesn’t begin their major until their Junior year, I would put Jackson's comprehension and skills right now with such a Junior half way through their first semester in J-school. Yes, he is that advanced—on many levels—beyond his years….just careless with assignments. No small thing.

Lou