a-hannah

My High School Years

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How would I describe my high school years? Many words come to mind: fast, quite, inspirational. But just saying those words doesn’t mean anything to you and to me there just words. It is the memories and emotions that relate those words back to my experiences as a high school student that makes them important. Let’s start from the beginning; I showed up freshman year of high school with no idea of who I was and only one friend in the world. Sadly the only things that come to mind when I think of freshman year it relates to easy __classes__ and minimal effort. Sure I got good marks but I didn’t strive for anything. I had nowhere to go, no desire to become anything. Of course I wanted to find myself but no one saw me and soon I wasn’t even able to see myself. Sophomore year began with new experiences and new relationships. I came into school with friends I could count on and a new image for myself. I also started doing things I have never done before. I went camping with friends and family during warmer months and learned to snowboard during the winter. I started volunteering anywhere I could. Sophomore year, I even signed up for a semester of chorus! As I’m pretty much described as silent most of the time it was a terrifying prospect; being heard, I mean. I ended up loving it. Being from a tone-deaf family made it near impossible to be properly exposed to music but by the end sophomore year I had started piano lessons! Music is a part of my life even now. My summers in high school were also really memorable. After sophomore year I was able to go to Alaska. It was the farthest I’d ever been away from home as well as out of the continental US. It was beautiful, in the summer the mountains are snow-capped and wildlife abundant. The summer after junior year I lived in Savannah for a month to get serious about art. What I thought would be an educational opportunity turned into fantastic friendships and collage experiences. I also learned so much about art and came home with at totally new perspective of the world around me which brings us to our next topic. This is the fact that once thing I’ve been increasingly interested in since starting high school is art. Art had always been something I loved even if I hadn’t been particularly good at it. Starting freshman year, art class became a regular part of my schedule but it wasn’t until junior year art III with Ms. Poppe that I truly started pushing myself with art and seeing things in a different way. Senior year I’ve been focusing more than ever (maybe a little too much) on my work. First semester I tried my hand at 3-D work. Sculpture helped…round out my art __education__. I love working with clay and I was able to try out new mediums like wire and cardboard. One thing I definitely couldn’t have done is make it through high school without my family and friends. I’m really close with my mom who keeps me sane and pushes me to be who I want to be. I definitely wouldn’t be perusing my artistic endeavors without her continuous support. The adoption of my crazy kitty, Jazz, late my junior year was a debatably perfect addition; he is definitely amusing even if not exactly the warm-fuzzy type. Late my senior year I found out my dog, Chevy, had liver cancer. We spent so much time and love trying to get him well again or at least comfortable but our efforts were futile and I lost this important family member a few weeks later. Another regret I have regarding my family in high school is losing touch with my father. As time passed and my work load increased, I stopped staying at his house sophomore year and now I only see him for holidays and long weekends. Speaking with him now I realize how much he doesn’t know or understand me and I wonder if it could have been done differently. It’s not all regrets, though. I have made some wonderful friends during these four years; Georgia Zhang, Sharon Pymento, Chandni Shroff, Kate Wood, Elizabeth Spring, Jenna Stewart, and Twisha Zaveri. I love them all dearly and I hope I will continue to know them forever. Then there’s Alex Barnes; my handsome and smart super-twin. Looking back now, the beginning of freshman year seems to be a lifetime ago. The memories are there but seem like they never truly existed. I hope that I never-ever forget these times but am ready to take the future head-on, no matter what it brings.