a-hillary

My High School Years http://animoto.com/play/jEnX6JhhRCOSUKjkOwdFMQ

High school, I don’t even know where to begin, I guess a good place to start could be way at the beginning when I first came into existence. I was born on December 2, 1993 in Williamsburg Virginia. Right from the start I viewed life as a big adventure, filled with excitement. My mom says that it was quite a regular thing for me to look complete strangers in the eye, give them the biggest possible smile, and wave “Hi!” I guess that is something that hasn’t really changed much. Ever since I can remember I have always been a really positive person; I like to look at the bright side of things and try to make the best out of every situation, good or bad. I’ve moved a couple of times in my life, when I was two years old we moved from Virginia to West Virginia, and when I was in the second grade we then moved to Ft. Lauderdale Florida. For middle school we moved more inland to Weston Florida where the beginning of my high school years first started. The high school I attended, Cypress Bay, home of the lightning, is ranked the 5th largest school in America with a total of 5060 students enrolled. Going to school felt like going to the mall, there was constantly a new face around every corner. As time went by I began to recognize faces and the size and intensity became comfortable. I found myself making friends with all sorts of interesting people, many of whom I met outside of classes, through other people and through the millions of clubs that I joined. I have always had a wide variety of interests and therefore participated in a number of extra-curricular activities, mainly art club and track and field. My class schedule has always been pretty rigorous as well. Freshman year consisted of all honors classes and one art class, and then sophomore year consisted of no electives and two AP classes, AP Latin and AP Psychology. It was a big transition, and the work load was immense, but it was all well worth it. My Latin teacher, Dr. Lyons, was by far the best teacher I could ever ask for, and has made one of the biggest impacts on me throughout my educational years. Having been in his class from freshman to sophomore year is definitely one of the highlights from my educational career. There is no one that I respect more and no one I can thank more for inspiring me to constantly push myself and maintain diligence in study and interest in learning. Another person of honorable mention would have to be my best friend in the entire world, Angela Mautino. We met in seventh grade at an end of the year pool party and have just been friends ever since. She is absolutely the best person that I have ever met, and the times we have together are irreplaceable. Laughing attacks and baking obscene amounts of food are things that we do best, but literally we could be sitting in the middle of nowhere and still manage to have the time of our lives. HS has been there for me during rough times and I have done the same for her. I love her to death and I can honestly say that we will be best friends forever. When I found out that we were moving to North Carolina, I didn’t know what to think, It was in the middle of high school and that would mean having to start all over. Also I had no idea what to tell Angela, I knew it was going to be emotional, and I was absolutely right. There was a lot of crying and hugging that took place but we managed to pull ourselves together and not let the distance come between us. So then summer came around and my new home was in Cary, North Carolina. The first thing I noticed was all of the tress, there are so many! The next was how nice the people are here, big difference from the people in Florida. I was excited to start my new high school at Green Hope but also very nervous, I didn’t know what to expect. Things went by pretty smoothly, except for the credits that were required at Green Hope as opposed to at Cypress. As a result, I ended up in freshman PE, Sophomore Civics, and then Senior ICM—I had no idea what that class was but I didn’t want to take AP Calc with AP English and AP Environmental Science. It turned out all right, even though I knew people in almost every other grade except my own. Something that was also different was that people could go off campus for lunch. That was cool but it made it kind of hard to meet people. I also didn’t have a parking spot and rode the bus to school. I went off occasionally, but mostly just stayed on campus and ate with my other friends I made that also happened to be new. My sister and I also became pretty close after moving here. We used to not get along, but being in a new place where we didn’t know anyone brought us together. When Spring came around I ended up trying out for lacrosse. I had been a part of the track team since seventh grade, but I figured new school, new place, might as well try a new sport. I made the JV team and soon was able to pick up the sport. It took toms of effort, and the practices were brutal, but the overall experience was well worth it. The summer between my Junior and senior year I attended NC State’s Design camp. During that week I learned so much about myself and about other people and also discovered my major: Industrial Design. My heart was set and my goal was clear. I could definitely see myself as an industrial designer. As I entered Senior year, the main focus was college applications. I researched different colleges and began the rigorous task of paperwork and essays. It seemed to take up all my time. Art also became more of a prominent aspect in my life. I began spending more time with it and expanding my horizons with different mediums. Other than that, my senior year immediately became one of my favorite years. There are so many good times and memories that I have to look back on in the future. Green Hope was no longer a foreign place to me, I recognized people from the year before, and made a ton of new friends and I am constantly I am creating stronger friendships with the people all around me. Everything that I have learned in high school, socially, intellectually, academically and emotionally will stay with me throughout my life always. I am so grateful to be surrounded by such brilliant and talented people; they have inspired in me motivation to reach my fullest potential. I believe that people enter each other’s lives for a reason, no matter how big or small, and every encounter that I have ever had with anyone, ever, has shaped me into the person that I am today. Above all, the greatest person that I have to thank is my mom. She is the strongest person I have ever met and deserves every happiness that life has to offer. I only hope that I can one day give back what she has given me. Well High school is over. Next stop, college! It’s been an amazing four years. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store, and I plan on living out every moment to its fullest.