Senior Year is Winding Down

My apologies for not blogging in a while. As you could probably tell, these last few months have been absolutely crazy.

For starters, I spent the past few months working on a project in my creative writing class. I, along with my friend Chelsea McDonnell, wrote the school’s annual Murder Mystery play. The Murder Mystery revolves around a murder where each character on stage is a suspect, and a detective carries out an investigation.

Each character has a personal item that was found at the scene of the crime, and each has an opportunity to give a monologue to convince the audience that he or she is innocent.

Then, during intermission, the characters walk around the lobby of the auditorium while the audience votes on who they think did it. After intermission, the murderer is revealed, and prizes are given out to some of those who voted correctly. It’s a big event for the Creative Writing Program, which means a lot of work goes into it.

Chelsea and I spent three or so months writing and re-writing the play. We chose the theme of nursery rhymes and fairy tales, with characters such as Little Bo Peep, The Muffin Man, and the Big Bad Wolf. I assisted in writing last year’s Murder Mystery, so I had some experience, but it was still challenging to write out the play, which ended up being more than 50-pages long.

Then, after it was written, we had rehearsals. The two of us acted in the play as well. I portrayed a drug-induced Alice in Wonderland while Chelsea portrayed the no-nonsense detective on the case. The rehearsal schedule was really intense. For a period of two weeks straight, we had rehearsal after school everyday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

It was tiring, but in the end, I think we put on a great show.

I’ve also had several other school events going on recently. Being a part of the National Honors Society, I was on the NHS Induction Committee this year and helped organize the induction of the new junior NHS members. I made the program for the event, set up the stage with balloons and flowers and such, and read the opening and closing speeches. It was both exciting and sad to see the new inductees. I remember being in their position last year and looking forward to senior year. It’s hard to believe that my group of NHS seniors will be graduating in less than a month.

I’m a leader of a group called SSNAP, or Students Seeking New Achievements Positively, at RHS, and every year we hold an Alcohol Awareness Week in the week leading up to junior or senior prom, whichever comes first.

This year we had some conflicting issues, so some of our activities had to be cut. For example, I read the morning announcements everyday, and usually I would read a statistic about drinking and driving during Alcohol Awareness Week, but there was AP testing going on that week and we weren’t allowed to do announcements. Also, we usually go out into the student parking lot after school one day, trace our bodies with chalk, and write statistics next to them so students can see them when they walk into school in the morning. However, it rained almost everyday that week, and it would have been impossible to use the chalk. We improvised that week and did some activities we hadn’t done before, instead.

Our school resource officer, Officer Middleton, helped us out as he does every year. During lunch waves that week, he stood in the hallway with two pairs of drunk goggles that, when worn, make you feel as though you are intoxicated.

He conducted a DUI test with anyone who was willing to put the goggles on, including having them walk in a straight line and holding one foot off the ground, 6 inches, while standing still. He also made a PowerPoint with video clips and information about drinking and driving that students could watch while they walked by. SSNAP students sat at a table during lunch waves and allowed students to sign a pledge promising to avoid drinking and driving and other dangerous activities after prom. Upon signing, students were given either a smiley-face keychain or a locker mirror.

On the last day of Alcohol Awareness Week, some students participated in a special event. We made T-shirts that began a story as to how we got into a drunken driving accident (a fake one, obviously).

For example, mine said “I was afraid to call my mom…”

The lovely Ms. Matyseck helped us by putting on stage makeup to make us look like we had cuts and bruises all over our faces. If other students saw us in the hallway, they could ask us what happened, and we told them our story, hoping to get across the idea that drinking and driving can really affect someone negatively. I loved this event, because I really think it stuck with the other students.

Senior prom was this past weekend as well. Oh, prom. The thing everyone always stresses over. I’m not going to lie - the two weeks leading up to prom were so hectic. Between finalizing rides to and from, hair appointments, making sure dresses fit, corsages and boutonnieres, and not having any idea where we were taking pictures until the morning of, it was crazy.

Still, in the end, I had the time of my life. The class of 2012 doesn’t always get along with each other. Let’s be honest, there’s always drama. But we all held it together the night of prom and just had a great time. I don’t recall any drama, any fighting, or any problems at all. Everyone just let go of their issues for one night and had a blast. And despite tripping over my dress numerous times, ripping it (I still have no idea how it happened), and having to be breathalyzed three times before it registered, I had so much fun. I’m still recovering from getting an hour of sleep on Friday night and going to the beach all day on Saturday. Like we always say, class of 2012 goes hard.

And so, I’m graduating in less than a month, and it’s bittersweet. Thinking about all of these events that have taken place in the past few months is making me realize how close to being done I actually am. Most of them are events that I have looked forward to for a while, especially the infamous senior prom. The list of upcoming events that I have the privilege of going to as a senior is slowly dwindling down, and it’s tough. Wasn’t I just a freshman yesterday, creeping on all of the seniors’ prom and graduation albums on Facebook?

Is it really four years later already? While I’m excited to finally be done with high school and all of the drama and difficulties that go along with it, I’m nervous. College and the future always seemed so distant and unreachable, but now they’re almost here. I really just want to enjoy these last few weeks—class day, field trips, being exempt from final exams, senior awards night—and make the most of them. It’s all going to be over before I know it.

I hope to blog more frequently in the next few weeks to reflect on my last days as a high school student. It’ll be busy, but I’ll enjoy every minute of it.