Senior Year: Second Semester

I've just wrapped up my senior year, and it's been very eventful! I got the opportunity to do new things, as well as say goodbye to some parts of my life. With this being the last year of high school, there have been some bittersweet events. I'm sad to see some things leave, but I also am excited to move forward into this next stage of my life.

January

January started off my second semester, and I had just wrapped up my college applications. I applied to 20. In my high school classes, there were some fun activities. In my musical theatre class, we practiced SFX makeup. I consider myself a talented makeup artist, bur my SFX didn't turn out too well. In my art class, we started working with watercolor. I've never been good with painting, and watercolor has been a big fear of mine. However, it's a bit easier when you're taught how to control it.

An important event from this month was my senior project! I decided to hold an open mic. I invited a few of my friends to prepare pieces, and I also invited the public to attend the event. I held it at a new bookshop in town called Columbus Bound. The event went amazing, and I heard some amazing performances.

I also was able to participate in my first dance show, Metamorphosis! I had been practicing for this show since the beginning of the school year, and it was finally time to perform. I was only in one number, but I had a lot of fun and enjoyed it thoroughly. I'm very grateful to have been granted the opportunity to be in a dance show, especially one that was part of a classmate's senior project.

Towards the end of the month, the theatre department held a play called Our Town, also part of a classmate's senior project. It was a lovely story about cherishing the time you have with the people you love. I enjoyed the performance very much.

I live in the south, so we don't get snow often. However, this month we got snow for the first time in years! I touched snow and made a snowball for the first time ever. I was at my friend's house, and she made a snow angel, while her dad made a mini snowman family. However, I have a low tolerance for the cold, so I spent more time inside watching the snow and preparing hot chocolate for everyone.

Since we were stuck at home for a few days do to the snow, I spent a lot of time playing Minecraft. I've always been a creative mode girlie because I'm scared of the mobs, but I finally started playing on survival... on peaceful mode of course. I'm still scared of the mobs! Playing on survival was a bit more fun because it gave me more to do. Instead of just building a house, I had to find the materials, go mining for the tools, etc. I also tried exploring and I'm beginning to understand the coordinates.

February

Our school performed a musical called Urinetown in the fall, and I had the honor of working backstage for it. This month, we got invited to perform the musical at Thescon! While I was not an inducted Thespian at the time so I didn't get to attend all of Thescon, I got a peek of what it's like through working backstage for the show at Thescon. I had a lot of fun and it was nice to see the show come together for one last run.

I've been taking Spanish classes all four years of high school, and since Creative Writing doesn't get a fine arts seal for diplomas, majors are required to attempt at a foreign language seal. In order to get the foreign language seal (seal of biliteracy), you have to take the AAPPL. I took this exam, and passed all but one section, which was unfortunately not enough to get the seal. However, I'm still proud of myself and relatively confident in my Spanish skills.

I was nominated for the Ace Awards. I was granted the opportunity to attend a ceremony awarding all of the nominees with certificates and $200, which was paired with a lunch. I invited my art teacher as well as my mom to support me for this event.

For Valentine's day, I decided to spend it with my best friend Savannah. We had a galentine's day by getting dressed up and going to Steak-n-Shake. The food was great, and we had a great time.

I was invited to the birthday party of one of my classmates. The party was pink themed and the venue and decorations were beautiful. Of course, the birthday girl looked amazing as well in both of her outfit changes. The food was great, and the DJ did a great job as well. I enjoyed the party a lot!

March

March was a bit less eventful, but still very enjoyable. The main highlight of March was Heathers the Musical! I was very excited to discover that my school was doing such an iconic musical for our spring show, especially in my senior year. I auditioned for it and unfortunately did not land a role, but I was able to work backstage, as well as help build the set in my tech theatre class. Our school's rendition of this musical was absolutely amazing. The casting was perfect, the set was magnificent, and the live band did an amazing job. This show blew me away, and I'm honored to have been a part of it.

In my tech theatre class, we worked on prop food when we weren't building the set. The food unfortunately didn't make the cut due to timing, but it was fun to make! Our only materials were paper towels and water, and I think our food turned out pretty good!

I got the opportunity to see another one of my classmate's senior projects. She held a fashion show called Junk to Funk where she designed, created, and styled all of the pieces from reused fabric. I think the idea was phenomenal and the execution was amazing. My friend Azaiah was also in the show, and he looked great!

April

I got my hair braided for the first time! I've always strayed away from braids because my mom used to braid my natural hair all the time when I was little and it looked... rough. I recognize that knotless braids are different, but my hair is also thin, so I didn't want it to look boneless. However, I tried french curl braids this month and I loved them! They're so cute and feminine, and I love how much volume they have. I got this hair done for my senior trip and for prom, and it looked amazing at both events.

I was granted the opportunity to go to Universal Studios's Grad Bash for my senior trip! I've never been to a theme park (not even Six Flags), so this was a completely new experience for me. I decided that pink was the theme, so you'll see me wearing pink in most of these pictures. I bought pink press on nails that managed to survive the whole trip, and they were so cute. On the first day, we walked around the CityWalk and ate at Hard Rock Cafe. I got a smash burger and a fancy strawberry lemonade. Both were delicious. The next day was the Grad Bash, and we got tickets to be there early, so we rode a few rides before the event started. Before that though, we saw King Julien in the lobby! In Universal, there are a lot of rides. But I am afraid of heights and I don't like moving fast, so the rides I got on were for children, but I still had fun! We rode the Minion's Villian Con, the Twirl and Hurl, and Race through New York with Jimmy Fallon, as well as every ride in Suess Landing. My group also rode some rides in the Harry Potter World and some other roller coasters, but I sat out for those. We got pizza twice, once at the Simpson's land and once at Louie's Italian Restaurant. We also got ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. We also tried Butterbeer, which I didn't enjoy very much. Lastly, we went to the Spider-Man store, where I got a Miles Morales mug. The next day, I got Starbucks in the morning, and the barista decorated my cup! (I know it's required now, but it's cute)! Later, I went to the pool and got yet another pizza, as well as a virgin strawberry mango daquiri. Later, we went to the CityWalk again. I got a patty melt from Bread Box, as well as some froyo from Menchie's. We went to the Universal store, and I got a Jaws Hello Kitty. We also went to Voodoo Doughnut. I didn't get anything, but my friend got a few donuts. We went home the next day, but I had a ton of fun! I'm forever grateful that I was able to have such an exciting senior trip.

I had an art show this month, and two of my pieces were featured in the main gallery again. One was a still life of an origami dragon, and one was a watercolor sunset. I'm very proud of the watercolor piece because it was my first time working with watercolor and it honestly came out amazing. I'm shocked that I was able to create that, even though it stressed me out.

This month, I also had prom! I didn't go to prom my junior year, so this was my first and last prom. The theme was enchanted forest, so I decided to rewear my birthday dress and make fairy wings to match. Those fairy wings ended up making me miss majority of prom, but I still had a good time. Afterwards, Savannah and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings.

I had a chorus concert where I had two solos! One solo was in an ensemble piece, but the other solo was a song that I sang and played on the piano entirely by myself! I had been learning this piece all year (due to my limited piano access), and even though I messed up a bit, I'm very proud of the performance. Afterwards, I went to Applebee's.

I've been wanting to get better at baking cookies for a while now, and I finally perfected the recipe! I discovered that the issue was in the amount of egg I was using. My cookies came out so pretty, and they tasted even better.

To close out the school year, the theatre department decided to hold a musical theatre cabaret. It was a compilation of most of the musical theatre numbers that the department had performed over the school year. I'm in a musical theatre class, so two of the numbers we learned in that class were featured: Carrying the Banner from Newsies Junior and Aquarius from Hair. I enjoyed both of these performances and was grateful for the opportunity to be involved with the theatre department one last time.

At the end of the month, I was awarded the Kirby Award for being the female senior with the highest SAT score in my school. We had a nice luncheon and announced our college plans.

May

May was extremely eventful considering it was my last month of school. I started it off with College Decision day. After long and careful consideration, I chose to attend Georgia State University for my fall semester and major in Real Estate. I'm very excited to see where that takes me. Go Panthers!

This month, we also had the last Party Committee meeting. The other admin and I needed to pass the baton to someone else, so we had a meeting to announce the new admins, as well as celebrate our accomplishments. We had pizza and a short conversation, then bid our farewells.

Before things got crazy with senior activities, I hung out with Tayveon. We walked around the mall for a bit then got milkshakes. We didn't do much, but it was nice to see him.

I attended the dance department's last dance show for the year, Evolution. As always, the dances were beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed the performances.

In tech theatre, we made treehouses. We only built white models, but it was still fun. I built a fairy themed treehouse, with small proportions and whimsical shapes.

I was invited to attend the Annual Dance and Theatre Banquet at my school! There, I was awarded the "Secretly Spider-Man" award, as well as inducted into the Thespian Society. I am very honored to have these achievements under my belt.

Here starts the senior events! First was the Top 10 luncheon! I was in the top 10 of my class, and there was a luncheon held for us. We had pizza, wings, and drinks.

I missed my senior skip day because I had an event to attend, so after the last day of school, my friend Heirius and I had a fake skip day. We walked down a strip mall and visited some stores, then ate at Sonic. I had a great time, and I appreciate him doing that for me.

Next was the senior prank! Our class decided to fill the school with floaties. We made the first floor tropical themed, then spelled out "senior" with sticky notes on the windows of the office. We also made a banner that we all signed.

The next day, we had our senior lock-in. We all came to the school at night to have a big sleepover! We had pizza and desserts, and played a ton of games. We stayed up until 2am (and stressed out our chaperones). It was a lot of fun!

After that, we had a senior picnic. We went to a big church in our area and spent the day grilling hotdogs and hamburgers, playing volleyball, playing on the playground, and doing line dances. The food was great, and I had a lot of fun!

The next day, we had the senior ice cream social. Not a lot of people showed up, but that was okay with me because I got more ice cream! I had 4 bowls, and would have went for more if they hadn't packed it up. We played Horse with the basketball as well as tetherball.

That Saturday, we had the Baccalaureate Luncheon. We went to a church where they blessed our class. Our school's chorus performed a few songs, then we had some great food.

The next day, we had the senior sunrise. That wasn't very eventful, but I still had fun!

The next week started off with another luncheon led by the PTO as well as awards day. The food was good. I didn't win any awards, but I did get medals for being in the Top 10 of my class as well as Principal's List.

Only 2 days later was graduation! I wore a Spider-Man themed outfit, and I think it was super cute (despite it being a little too small). I also made a Spider-Man grad cap to go with it. Graduation was a great success, and I'm honored that I was able to walk the stage and receive my diploma. After graduation, we went to Chili's and I FINALLY got a Triple Dipper after months of craving it. I also got free dessert!

I also got to attend my friend Tayveon's graduation! He goes to a different school, but he was the salutatorian at his school! He's also going to Harvard in the fall! I'm so proud of him. We've been friends since kindergarten, and it's amazing to watch us grow over the years. I feel like a proud mom!

Conclusion

Senior year was a great success! There were some ups and downs, but I'm happy to have accomplished high school. Next up is college, and I'm nervous. However, I'm going to live this summer to the fullest, making sure to spend plenty of time with friends before we all go our separate ways. I'm excited to see what the future holds! Be sure to subscribe to stay updated!