Excellence is a hallmark of every successful individual, business, and team. Yet, the temptation is strong to settle for mediocrity or fall prey to perfectionism rather than pursue excellence. Pursuing excellence healthily is a challenge for many, and it becomes an even more complicated topic for parents raising teens. I am convinced that pursuing excellence is an essential life skill. It is not something that is necessarily innate or comes naturally to us; it is a skill that must be cultivated intentionally over time, no matter what the goal or endeavor for which we want to be excellent. 

[Editor's Note: The following has been adapted from an interview with former teacher and pastor Dave Runyon on the "Navigating Your Child's Education" podcast for parents. Make sure to check out the full conversation here.]

In years past, many high school students and their parents followed a similar script as they planned for college: take the most challenging classes in high school to boost their GPA, be in as many extra-curricular activities as possible, earn the highest ACT or SAT score possible, apply to a college with said score, and get "in" based on the institution's formulaic criteria for admission. While this approach worked for many students to gain admission to colleges and universities in the past, the landscape of college admissions has changed significantly in the last few years.