Thursday, December 4, 2014

When I Was in High School

Thanks to Steph @ Life According to Steph for the post idea!

I graduated high school in 2003. My high school was one of the 13 in my city (large metropolitan area) so it wasn't a large school by any means. (4A school amongst a sea of 4A and 5A schools all over Charlotte.) There were about 300 or so in my graduating class. I liked to think that I had a lot of friends in school. I did have close friends, but I liked to hang around different groups of people. I was involved in a lot of extracurricular activies like JROTC, The History Club, NAACP Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes amongst others. I also did a few "pageant-like" events in high school.


All of these pictures are going to be really low quality. These are iPhone photos of actual pictures. (an the only ones that I have in my house currently) The age before digital photography became the norm. :)


 
I was really in JROTC...which is kind of a shock to some people now when I tell them. I guess I don't really strike some as the military type? I loved JROTC and did very well in it. It afforded me the opportunity to miss class sometimes (drill meets, community events, color guards, etc.) and I got to go to interesting places. I was part of the color guard for area sporting and community events as well. I was also the female (unarmed) drill team commander. This was so much fun! I got to coordinate and choreograph drill routines for all of our unarmed exhibition drill teams. This kind of military drill is different from the other kind of drill team that waves flags at football games. This is military precision marching and step routines. I also ended up being one of two Battalion Commanders at my school. (The program was large enough to be considered a Brigade.)
 

 
Part of JROTC every year was the Military Ball where JROTC units from schools all over the city converged in one location for a prom-like dance and ceremony. My 11th grade year I was voted Military Ball Princess and my senior year, I was voted Military Ball Queen.

 
The other "pageant-like" thing I did in high school was the Carrousel Pageant. This was sort of like a pageant for each high school in my area. They selected a Queen and a Runner-Up. It involved the typical pageant activities like career-wear competition, interview questions, talent competition and evening gown. I didn't win Carrousel Queen, but I did come in second place as the runner up. :) My talent was singing (of course) and I sang the song "Only Hope" by Mandy Moore, popularized in the movie A Walk to Remember. This photo is me and my mom.
 
Other things about me in high school:
 
- I didn't go to any of my school's actual proms. (I went to Military Balls instead.)
- I was heavily involved in my church and church's youth group, which ultimately turned into a job at a church for about 5 years.
- I wasn't into partying/drinking/drugs and didn't even have a boyfriend in high school. I was very much your typical goody-two-shoes girl.
- I also was sort of a teacher's pet. :)
- My best friend is high school is still one of my best friends to this day. We often look back on what we wore and wrote in high school and cringe. Yes, cringe.
 
I often wish I could go back to high school having all of my adult knowledge and wardrobe. Kind of like Josie Grosie...but then I think, life is so different now (even just 11 years later) that I don't know how I would do. There seemed to be more innocence at that time...before cell phones were popular and technology was as big as it is now. This is before MySpace really hit it big. Before teenagers were jaded and non-plussed...but that's just old April talking. :)
 
Do you reminsce on your high school years? Tell me about them!
 

 
 
 

1 comment:

  1. You are a military ball queen! I would never have ever thought that. Pretty cool!

    You couldn't pay me enough to go back but I like to think about it.

    ReplyDelete

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