I commend you, Dwight Lundstrom (Soundoff, Sept. 30) for your determination to improve the academics at Oak Harbor High School. As a parent of a recent graduate and a current sophomore, I am well aware of the importance of ensuring that our students remain competitive with the rest of the country. My son took the most difficult academic schedule offered at the high school and excelled enough to be accepted at a top 20 university. Now that he is attending Notre Dame, he says that very few of his classes at Oak Harbor high prepared him for the rigorous education he is facing and that he finds himself surrounded by many intelligent students with good study habits already established. I hear similar comments from students attending the Washington universities as well.

The addition of the Advanced Placement courses has made a huge improvement in keeping OHHS competitive and is just one step in the right direction. There are a lot of smart kids at the high school that are just lazy, and have been allowed to be. By the high school raising their standards with this new approach, hopefully there will be more emphasis on motivating these students to reach higher goals. I encourage my daughter and her peers to take the most challenging courses offered at OHHS.

Mr. Lundstrom has been a hands-on, concerned and involved addition to the school, dedicated to the improvements of education here in Oak Harbor. Let’s all get on his band wagon and support his dream.

Jill Vasquez

Oak Harbor