Show and Tell Monday: High School

Today I am doing a new link-up for me: Show and Tell Monday! This week's questions are all about high school, which is appropriate since my reunion is coming up!

1. Tell us what kind of student you were in high school {popular, nerd, sport obsessed, choir, etc}. I ran with the "in crowd," I suppose you could say. But I was in a lot of different clubs and activities, so I was friendly with a lot of different groups: the 4-H crowd, the Beta Club/National Honor Society peeps, my fellow cheerleaders, the yearbook staff, etc. If there's one word to describe me in high school, it would be "busy" - I was in so many clubs/activities/extracurriculars that I rarely got home before 5pm, and school got out at 2:05. It makes me tired to think about it!   2. Share with us some high school pictures. We know you have them somewhere. Oh high school. Gotta love those early-2000's fashions, right?
 

BFF Lesley and I Sophomore year

Junior year cheerleading pic

Senior prom!

My Senior portrait

With my family at graduation 

3. Tell us about your school. Private? Public? How many in graduating class? Mascots? School colors? My  high school was public and I graduated with about 300 people. However, I will also say that this was and still is the only high school in my entire county. So although I had a decent sized graduating class, we were the only seniors for a 40-mile radius! (which was kinda cool). Our colors were purple and gold  (not to be confused with purple and yellow) and our mascot was a Brahman. If you have no idea what that is, as I suspect you don't, google it and you will get an idea of the kind of small town from which I hail :)

4. Tell us about some of your favorite memories of high school. Or what stands out the most? Any teachers? Specific classes? For me, high school was so. much. fun. I have a lot of good memories. My first day of high school stands out: I was nervous, excited, anxious, self-conscious, etc. But I was also really looking forward to a new beginning! I remember everything about that day: what I wore (black pants and red 3/4 sleeve shirt, my hair long and straight); how I was standing around in the morning before class desperately looking for a familiar face; being SO happy when I finally located that familiar face; what I ate for lunch (stood in long line for the school lunch and kept repeating "I am definitely bringing my lunch tomorrow!" which I did, and for almost every other day for the rest of the year); and everything else about that day!
On the flip side, another vivid memory was what we called "Class Day" - it's the day at the end of each year when you move up a class in terms of title (sophomore, junior, senior, etc). It's usually held the last day of classes before exams. Class Day my Senior Year was emotional - I think that was the day it sunk in that graduation was really happening and life as we knew it was about to end. I was Class President, which meant I had to "pass" the title of Senior Class to the class behind us. There were a lot of tears that day. Of sadness? Joy? Relief? Probably a little of everything. It was definitely a bittersweet day.

5. Tell us a piece of advice you would pass on to your children or any child entering high school. I'll tell my children to be kind to everyone. It breaks my heart to heart about all these bullying tragedies that happen [future children: if you ever even attempt to bully, you don't even want to KNOW what this girl will do to you!]. Be friendly to everyone and don't get wrapped up in the pettiness that so often defines friendships, classmates, and high school altogether.   High school can be an awkward and a confusing time, but everyone is going through it at the same time. Some girls will, ahem, "develop" (as my mom used to say) sooner than others [I was not one of those girls], and some boys will hit a growth spurt and be tall and muscular before the other guys. But emotionally, everyone is on par with each other.    Finally, do what your heart tells you to do, whether that's in the kinds of activities you pursue, the friends you keep, or matters of the heart. Don't leave with regrets, and that works both ways: what you choose to do and what you choose not to do. You only get one shot at high school, so make the most of those special years.