Award for "Model Partner"?

At 20 (twenty-one with a birthday coming in just a few days) Will is the youngest student in our class, and he got off to a really bad start. He seemed wild; undisciplined, undiscipline-able. More boy than man; adolescent in the most pejorative sense.

Things did not go well, early on, with Will, or between Will and some of his school partners. Some didn't think Will would last, that he lacked the patience, drive, motivation. He obviously got chewed out a couple of times... Then to my utmost surprise (and admiration), Will hunkered down, applied himself, and matured about 4 years in the span of 2 weeks.

Nonetheless, I was apprehensive when I saw the partner-list for the coming week. Will. To add to my angst, we were to have the same partners for not one but two weeks -- a fortnight requiring an unusual level of coordination between partners, likely frustration as the tension level rises to meet our deadlines... I banged my head against the wall -- literally.

The first day or our working together was splendid. He can be a model partner: cooperative, communicative, helpful, cheery, industrious. The week passed quickly: Will and I "clicked"; we worked well together -- more "seamlessly" than any other partner I'd had in throughout the class. I was surprised, impressed, relieved. We worked well together, and within certain limits, I'd work with him again. He has some challenges controlling his temper -- but I reckon that's true for most people at one time or another.

It is strange (and challenging) for me to work with somebody so young -- but it also have to figure the reverse is true for him. We did OK.

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