Almost a year ago today I graduated my all-girls Catholic high school. It's so weird to look back and remember all the anticipation and anxiety I was facing last summer. Leaving my friends, family, and my comfortable snuggly bed seemed weird but exciting and new. I believed I was ready to start my new independent life and see what school brought. Before that though, I had a little fun my senior year. Okay, more than just a little. Here are some throwbacks of senior year.
My Trip Down Memory Lane: Senior Year
First Senior event of the year: 80's Mixer!
The entire Senior class had to show up in order to get senior privileges...pretty awesome.
The activity that took up most of my time first semester was the annual SHAMusical! This year Fiddler On the Roof was chosen. Being the techie that I am, I was on sound crew. We were so awesome; we had our own chairs and nametags!
Also around the time of our Musical was Fall Formal. I took one of my friends Aaron and we had such a blast! When one goes to dances, I recommend taking friends - guaranteed a good time.
<--Classic display of our friendship...suggested by crazy parents! Got any good poses recommended by your parents? At least you can laugh at them later!
Not entirely school related, my friend Jenna won tickets on our local radio station to meet Kris Allen, the winner of American Idol! Luckily for us it was right down the street from our school and we got to listen to a short set and take pictures. I got up the nerve to say to him that we have the same birthday! It was so exciting!
Also a key part of senior year: SENIOR SWEATSHIRTS! Because we are the Class of 2010, we put on our sweatshirts "SEN10RS". Pretty clever right? Embroidered on the front pocket were our names opposite a heart. On the back we had wordled our names. I still wear it to this day!
Every year we're required by our school to go to a retreat. One weekend in January about 60 of my fellow classmates and I traveled to Garrison, New York for a retreat with the Capuchin Franciscan Friars. No, not the monkey. There we had team-building exercises, time for reflection, faith talks, and experiencing Mass and Adoration. Here is the entire group of us that we crammed into a coach bus!
During my February break, I was privileged to go to Brenton, WV with a group of 20 girls from my school and assorted chaperones to work with the Appalachian Service Project. There our five groups worked in different parts of the holler repairing homes. Soon I will have a more detailed blog post about my experience there. This is me and my team with our typical attire for the week.
Time for SPIRIT WEEK! Basically we prepare the entire year for this week for the events and dress-up days such as Lip Sync, SHAmerica's Best Dance Crew, Class Color Day, Decades Day, etc. It is always a lot of fun and it really unites the class. After all, it is all about school spirit! Fun Fact: This Santa hat has made it to 3/4 of Red and White days. I like to keep the Christmas spirit alive and well all year round!
I was also involved in our Spring production: Godspell. Also a sound techie in this one, but no pictures. Just going to have to believe me!
And of course, the moment you've all been waiting for: PROM. I generally like to think that I have good experiences with prom, probably because I try to keep out of the promma drama that tends to happen. I was the coordinator for dates this year...I got five girls including myself dates. Talk about networking... I owe so much to my friends Ian and Aaron, who are brothers, for being such amazing troopers as I've persuaded them to attend at least one of my dressy events with me. I took Ian to prom junior year and took Aaron to senior year. Of course senior prom was a reunion for most of us, seeing as Ian, Aaron, my brother and I all attended. It was quite enjoyable!
After one of the final hurdles of senior year, we get to 'destroy' our uniforms and run through the halls screaming and yelling on our last day of school! The freshmen never know what hit them.
<--Before 
After-->
During:
As a school we always celebrate the end of the year with a relaxing day at Holiday Hill. Here we can pig out, go swimming, play sports, go kayaking/paddleboating, rock climb, get airbrush tattoos, and have a pick-up talent show! It's a good time to have fun with friends and enjoy the wonderful weather.
Senior Week had begun!
Filled with the Honors Colloquium, Yearbook Supper, Graduation practice, Baccalaureate, and finally: GRADUATION!
All the hard work during the past four years lead to our commencement. With all the mixed feelings about the future, I knew for certain that the girls I had spent my high school years with would be my friends for life. So much has happened since that day, and I believe that this landmark in my life has given me the determination and desire to succeed in life and to ultimately be happy with whatever I do.
It's not about the destination, but the journey.
