In Retrospect: My Junior Year

My Junior Year was stressful, exciting, fun, difficult, and everything else in between. So far in my high school career, this has definitely been my favorite year. I was finally an UPPERCLASSMAN. I was no longer at the bottom of the food chain, but instead one step away from being at the very top.

 What set my Junior year apart from the first two years of high school was that I finally began to realize that I'm growing up. Teachers began talking about SATs and college applications all the time instead of the usual quizzes and homework assignments. Yup, things were starting to change and I had to go along with it whether I liked it or not.

Despite all the stressful times and late nights completing homework and projects, I accomplished a lot. I learned not only in the classroom, but in the real world as well.

Highlights

Football Games

Football Games are soooo fun! I can't believe that I only went to a few my sophomore year and zero my freshman year. I went to every football game possible this year. My friends and I even ventured out to Peoria for one of them. So maybe our football team wasn't the best (see above picture), but I sure had fun cheering them on, making Agua Fria shirts, and painting my face anyway.

Becoming The Next Michelangelo :P

Ahh, Sculpture & Ceramics class. Definitely one of the hardest art classes I've ever taken. My first project was the ceramic bust. Now I have no idea why we started out so big, but of course I had no choice and just dove right in. The bust ended up looking kinda creepy looking lol. But instead of beating myself up over it, I patted myself on the back for doing a decent job. Especially since I'd never worked with clay before.

The next project was the Wire Sculpture project. I can describe this project in one word: PAINFUL! We literally had to cut open tubes of wire with box cutters and I probably almost impaled myself more than once. When I had all my pieces made it was time to assemble them, but I was discouraged. On their own the cat and the cage and the bird looked like, well, crap! But I was running out of time so I just put them together anyway. After struggling a bit with getting the bird cage to stand up straight (many cuts and scratches), it was finally altogether. I painted the base red and was ready to present! My teacher really liked it and especially complimented me on my choice to paint the base red because it gave my sculpture a cartoony feel. Sure!:D

Our last project was cultural masks. Dia De Los Muertos immediately came to mind. I looked at examples of Dia De Los Muertos Skulls and began my own sketch. I was so excited, it came out awesome! Before I had even put my mask in the kiln, my teacher said it was a really cool mask and couldn't wait till it was done. As many of you probably know due to one of my previous blogs, the mask blew up while in the kiln :( I was devastated! But I turned it around and decided to make a new one. I think my first one was better because I had more time but I still love the mask! I still have to add a yellow flower and spray a clear lacquer on it, but this is basically the finished product. I love it!:)

Finally Getting My 'I Exceeded Aims' Shirt

I had been waiting since Sophomore year to receive my shirt. I exceeded my Writing AIMS. Definitely one of my finest hours :D

Going To Disneyland!

I'd been to Disneyland before, but two times I was too little to remember and the third time I went on hardly any rides and it was paaaaaaaaaacked. My friend Kelsey had been talking about taking me to Disneyland for a long time and it was finally time! It was such a great experience! I felt like a little kid. Many of the rides were first times for me. I was fearless! I even braved California Screamin' and Tower of Terror, which if this had been two years ago, I wouldn't have dared to go on. Three days of absolute bliss and crazy fun :)

Surviving AP Classes

Junior year was the first time I was able to take AP classes and I was so excited! AP meant an introduction to the level of work I would have to do in college. My first semester I took AP American History. God I loved that class! I seriously learned so so soooo much! But oh the class was so difficult! There was a lot to remember. I ended up getting a B in the class. But since it was an AP course, it was weighted as a A which meant my GPA went up a lot. And I was one of the few people who did really well. A lot of people in my class got C's and D's

Second semester I had two AP classes: AP English Language/Composition and AP Chemistry. I totally rocked AP English! It's just my subject and I wrote some really excellent essays over the course of it. I really feel that my writing has improved thanks to all those essay I wrote. I also got to read some really good books. I read The Great Gatsby, The Crucible, The Scarlet Letter, Death of a Salesman, and Lord of the Flies, each book a staple in American Literature. I worked hard in the class and it payed off because I got an A :)

AP Chemistry.....oh, where to begin! First semsester I had taken Honors Chemistry and I was good at it so I figured, "Hey, might as well take AP!" Worst mistake everrrr! This was by far the hardest class I have EVER taken. It just didn't make any sense to me at all. And I tried, I really did! But it was a lost cause. Chemistry was just not my thing. At one point I had an F :O As you can see above, it was tests like that that brought my grade down. At that point, I vowed to bring it up. Luckily my teacher made homework worth a lot of points since no one ever turned it in. And she gave us credit for completion, not correctness. So I did every homework assignment, even though half the time I'm pretty sure I was making up my own chemistry lol. I then had slightly better test scores, each score getting better as the weeks went by. Finally, by the end of the year, I had brought my F up to a B! Happiest moment of my life! Now I'm happy that I passed the class and that I never have to think about Chemistry again :)

Getting a B in Trigonometry

My whole life, I've been bad at math. I don't know what it is, but math and I just don't mix! Recently in high school, I've gotten much better at it, but I still always got C's :( If you look at a history of my high school math grades, you'll see an A in Algebra I B and C's in the rest. So it was with a reluctant heart that I signed up for Trigonometry. Technically I didn't need to take it. Heck, technically I could've stopped taking math my sophomore year, but my school encourages that students stay in some sort of math class all four years to keep our skills intact. The first day of class we had to write our goal for the course and by the end of the year, we should have achieved it. I wrote that I wanted to get at least a B in the class because I usually get C's. Well the year went on and surprisingly, I understood Trig! I kept waiting for it to get so difficult that I'd want to give up, but that never  happened. There were a few lessons that were very arduous, but I was somehow able to figure them out. It was crazy! By the end of the year I had a high B. I felt so accomplished!:D Since I was so successful in Trig, I decided to take Calculus next year. I know it will be hard, but I've already proved to myself that I'm capable of getting through it.

Prom!

Prom was one of the most fun nights of my life!:) The summer before junior year, I had been planning to go. That was the plan until tickets went on sale. Suddenly, no one wanted to go! I was so sad! I really wanted to go, but if my best friends weren't going, it wouldn't be fun. So I sadly decided to wait till Senior year. The week leading up to Prom was dreadful. Everyone was talking about their plans and their dresses and how much fun it would be. That was it. I decided I was going! So a few text messages later, I had friends to go with. Next was getting a dress! I was a little worried about finding a dress at the last second, but I wasn't looking to get a big fancy dress. Just something simple and I found it :) I'll leave the beautiful dress for my senior year ;) I picked out a few cute and simple accessories and that was it! Simple :)

Last thing I needed was shoes. We were going to go shopping, but then my mom remembered that she had some of Tia Sylvia's high heels. They were PERFECT. They went with my dress and accessories so well. And my mom told me that they were dancing shoes!:) That was awesome because I don't dance. I can, but I just don't. But with these shoes, Tia Sylvia would guide me on over to the dance floor:) And it worked! I danced ALL NIGHT. It was so much fun! Prom was at the Aldea Reception Center down in Peoria and it was just BEAAAAUUUUTIFUL. It couldn't have been more perfect:) I absolutely can't wait till my Senior Prom!:D

Last Day of School

Oh the last day of school:) Finals are completed and grades are closed. The weight of the world is off of everyone's shoulders. Such a feeling of relief after a long, hard year :) Now it's my time! Two months of much needed Rest and Relaxation and then it's time for one final year: Senior Year. I don't know what's in store for me, but I do know that I'm ready to tackle whatever obstacles are coming my way. I'm going to make sure that I have as much fun as possible my Senior Year and I'm going to enjoy every second of it.  Even though I didn't want to believe it, High School sure does go by way too fast. It'll all be worth it though. This time next year, I'll have my diploma in hand and hopefully, a great college to go to and finally, my adult life to begin :)

Sincerely Yours,

Alexis, The Senior :)