The End

Today is my last day of high school.

When that final bell rings at 2:40, I will open my locker one last time, and give it a final slam. I will walk out the doors of school one final time. 

It will be over, just like that.

It's sad.

It's bizarre.

It's exciting.

It's happy.

It's scary.

I am ready to move on to college and I am so excited for the new experiences and independence it will bring. I can't wait to move to campus and get involved with various organizations, and pursue what truly interests me.

However, this doesn't mean I can't get a little emotional over leaving high school, right?

The past four years have been a great experience and I can't imagine spending them with anyone else besides my amazing group of friends, interesting teachers, and terrific classmates. Central Catholic has been an amazing place to spend my teenage years. I am so lucky to have been able to attend a high school where everything was rooted in faith. 

I have been going to school with a majority of my classmates since we were all in kindergarten. That's 13 years! We are all pretty close, and although there are different groups of friends, we all get along fairly well. We are a family! It's so weird to think that after we all receive our diplomas on May 19th, I may never see some of these people again. 

As these final days have come and gone, I have been thinking and reflecting about my time at Central Catholic and what has stood out to me most. I have come to the conclusion that my favorite part of Central was how we were all a family. We knew each other's strengths and weaknesses. We knew who everyone in our class was. This is something that I couldn't have experienced at a larger school. The community feeling was something I absolutely loved.

Today is going to be emotionally trying. So, to start things off I thought I would recap the past four years in pictures. Hopefully this will evoke some happy memories!

August 2009- First day of high school with my sisters and my friend Jennifer. I can't believe how young we look! I'm pretty sure we spent DAYS trying to decide "what to wear" on the first day of high school. We wear uniforms. How pathetic! I still remember how excited and eager we were. That seems like so long ago.

October 2009-Freshman year homecoming. Our group was relatively small and we did dinner at my house. Lots of "awkward dance photos" ensued. I loved how all of our dresses were pink/purple/red that year.

Fall 2009- Freshman volleyball tournament.

I sometimes forget I played volleyball my freshman and sophomore years! It was a big time commitment, but I had fun. I remember this tournament particularly well. We rode on a rocket, jamming to "Party in the USA" on the way to Springfield. We also all learned how much we love peanut butter pretzel nuggets. Again, we all look SO little!

May 2010- End of freshie year. This picture was taken on our last day of finals. We went to eat lunch at the park and study. I remember being so so so nervous about my Accelerated English final. That was before I met AP U.S. History

Sophomore wellness. Magz and Erin and I had some great times in 8th hour wellness. We played killer games of badminton, gave Erin fabulous Snooki hair, attempted to play basketball, and even hid behind a tree in the park to avoid participating in football one time (whoops!). 

December 2010- Ahh, the Geography Fair. Abby and I did our report on Poland. After months of slaving away, we put together a pretty stellar display at the fair. (We may or may not have been gluing sequins onto our display board the morning of.) Our food was certainly a hit, as one certain staff member kept coming back for more and more. We made our outfits. I was pretty proud of how they turned out. We got an A on the project :)

April 2011- Sweet Sixteen! Although Jennifer's birthday was in November, we ended up getting our licenses around the same time. Of course, this wasn't before I had a complete meltdown in the car during a behind-the-wheel session. It was my first time driving, and the instructor told me to yield on green and I didn't really know what that meant. Needless to say, tears ensued. Not to worry, though, Jennifer and I both passed our driver's tests the first time!

April 2011- Royal Wedding Party. So all of us were basically OBSESSED with the royal wedding. We were those people constantly talking about it, and we kept on top of all the developing news regarding the nuptials. Naturally, all of us woke up at 3:00 that Friday morning to watch the wedding of the year on live television. And it was beautiful. Later that night, we celebrated Wills and Kate with a Royal Wedding Tea. We all dressed up in our best dresses and jewelry, and snacked on tea sandwiches, petit fours, scones, cake balls, cupcakes, and of course, tea. Maggie even found copies of the actual wedding invitation online and wrote our names in. So legitimate, and so much fun. If I recall, we went to Dairy Queen afterwards, which isn't at all surprising. 

Summer 2011- This was the first summer that everyone could drive. It was packed with our classic "basement parties," Dairy Queen runs, movie nights, and time at the lake. However, a basement party would not be complete without a round of extreme twister, as exhibited in the picture above.

Summer 2011- My sisters and I traveled to Europe with our school's art club. We visited ten cities in 5 different countries over the course of two weeks. So much fun! The trip is still one of my fondest memories of my high school years. Here we are with Nichole and John standing outside of where the Potsdam Conference was held.

September 2011- This is one of my favorite pictures of all time. This was taken at my friend Timmy's house after a football game. We decided to try the new owling fad. This is before the rigor of AP had really set in, as all of us aren't looking tired yet.

December 2011- NHS induction. All of our hard work paid off!

Ah, the infamous Diet Coke photo. This truly sums up my junior year. Faced with the stress of three AP classes, including AP history, I resorted to drinking, on average, 3 cans of Diet Coke per night. This is what the trash can in my room looked like after a long week of studying.

Our AP U.S. History class. Still my favorite class of all four years. Yes it was extremely challenging. Yes I sometimes felt like giving up. However, we had the best group of people and we all helped each other deal with the stress. This involved group panics via text at 2 am, viscously printing wikinotes in the media center in the mornings, and consuming baked goods in class every Monday. Our favorite dessert of all time was caramel brownies. We all had a love hate relationship with the American Pageant. We all made the class a lot of fun, as did our teacher. The few, the proud, the marines. The cream of the crop.

Yearbook- My sisters and I, as well as Marion and Lindsey were all editors of the yearbook. Being an editor has been so much fun, and I love the experience it has given me in the realm of journalism. Our staffs the past two years have had some pretty fun times, and we have been able to accomplish a lot. We've had so much fun filming commercials, putting the book together, and developing our theme. This year's book is amazing and we are so proud of it!

Junior prom! We had so much fun! My sisters and I were Junior Class officers and helped plan the entire thing. Our theme was "Night in Paris," and it was awesome!

Junior year marked the beginning of the college search process. We made a trip to Philadelphia to visit some east coast schools. Here we are at Swarthmore.

Senior homecoming! That HC week was so fun! As seniors, we got to choose the theme and plan the week's festivities. We chose a Disney theme, and it was fantastic! Here's our homecoming group (26 people, naturally.) Taking this picture on the dock was nerve racking!

January 2013- March for Life, Washington, D.C.

Traveling to D.C. with my class for the March for Life was an amazing experience. We all united for a cause that we believe in. The March itself was breathtaking.

TWIRP 2013-Black, White and Bling.

Although TWIRP turned into a casual dance, it was still great. Probably the best TWIRP yet! (Complete with horsemasks of course)

March 2013- Brigadoon

Participating in the school musicals at Central have been one of my favorite activities. I have served as the costume designer for the past four years. This year, we did a Scottish musical, so there was lots and lots of plaid.

Senior Prom! We had thirty people in our group (classic), so getting a group photo was a struggle. However, I love how candid some of the pictures turned out.

Now for some pictures of the final days with the best senior class I could ask for....

Our senior retreat. This day was definitely emotional. We heard compelling speeches by our classmates, played games, and of course, ate a lot of food.

Wearing our college t-shirts

The last four years have been truly amazing. The pictures here only account for a few of the tons of great experiences, friendships, classes, and people I have encountered. I will always look back on my time at Central Catholic with a smile. 

I guarantee that when I walk out those doors today, there will be tears. 

I'm going to miss my classmates, friends, and teachers.

It's normal.

However, it's time to move on, new experiences, people, and places await.

I think these Hannah Montana lyrics sum things up well enough:

So I'm moving on

Letting go
Holding on to tomorrow
I've always got the memories while I'm finding out who I'm gonna be
We might be apart but I hope you always knowYou'll be with me wherever I go
Wherever I go

Stay Stylish, Stay Classy, Be Creative

Emily