The Good Old Days...

With high school graduations and graduation parties going on everywhere, my mind goes back to when I was in high school.  I graduated seven years ago, and though to some of you that probably seems really recent, to me it seems like it's been a long time already!

I didn't LOVE high school right away, actually, I hated it!  I went to a very small Lutheran day school from Kindergarten to 8th grade.  We had the same teacher for all of our classes and for two years in a row, stayed in one classroom all day, and had no lockers to deal with.  You knew everyone and everyone knew you.  I had it easy... I was smart and 'popular' if that's possible when you have 8 kids in your class.  Needless to say, high school was a shock!

On my first day of high school, I got to school, but couldn't get my locker open.  I finally found a janitor to help me, but I was late to my very first class (at least the janitor came with me it to explain to the teacher...) which was Spanish, of which I knew none and we were not allowed to speak English in class.  Ay carumba!  So much for feeling smart!  I remember feeling so lonely and trying to hide my tears...  Of course things got better, but the whole first year was actually pretty rough.

Lucky for me, I loved high school from grades 10 to 12.  I had wonderful friends, liked my classes, and enjoyed plenty activities.  Among my favorite activities were choir and theater.  I was lucky enough to be part of the Concert Choir and the Madrigals (a small themed group).  I participated in Solo & Ensemble, an inter-school competition, for 3 years with the Concert Choir, the Madrigals, in a duet, and as a soloist.  Thankfully, we did really well every time!  I was also chosen to participate in the HVL choir, which was a choir composed of a group of students from all of the area high schools.  Only a couple of kids were chosen from each school.  The biggest honor of all, though, was being selected to go to Iowa to sing in the choir at the Dorian Music Festival with two other girls from my choir (2 of my great friends)!

But it really is a toss up for which activity was my favorite.  I loved theater, too!  I participated in a bunch of the plays and all of the musicals.  The first, and my favorite, musical we did was "Damn Yankees".  It was an amazing show with fabulous songs and a great cast.  I had a bunch of really small parts, but it was awesome.  The next year we did "Annie" and my senior year, "The Wizard of Oz".  I was Glinda, the good witch!  What a blast!

This is from our Winter play... I'm the mime.

Besides that stuff, I started and captained the cheerleading team during my Junior year.  Our school hadn't had one for several years and I thought it was ridiculous!  All of the schools we played sports against had cheerleaders at the games, but not us!  So we petitioned for a team and it worked.  It was a fun experience and a lot of great exercise.

Here are some other photos from high school.  I realized after I wrote this post that most of them are on film, not digital, so someday I'll have to scan them in and post them... those ones are the best!

Ryan and my first date- Sept 6th, 2002.

My Junior prom- 2003... I'm in the purple dress.

Surprise!  I'm engaged!  January 6th, 2004

Best friend Heather and I being nerds...

Senior Prom 2004

Steph and I at prom.

Me and my plastic baby, Aubrey,  I had to take care of for school.

Heather and I.

Senior picture my Mom took.

 

Senior picture my Mom took.

Senior picture my sis, Kris, took.

Senior picture my sis, Kris, took.

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