High School Days: Senior Success

Senior year was by far the best school year for me. I had a roaring social life, great classes, and a bad case of graduation fever. I was far out of my shell by this point in my life and was becoming a pretty well-known person, due to all the shows I did and the fact that I had become an anchor on the school news. I remember nothing but great things about this year!

After School: End seat in choir again made for a strong finish to my high school choral career. This was the year I knew I would have to audition for a solo if I wanted to check it off my To-Do list. The opportunity came more as an order than an audition. We were working on a song one day and my teacher called out, just before the solo, "Regnier! Sing this!" I hesitated for only a moment when the time came and then I couldn't believe I managed to get the notes out... and well!! Victory was mine- check! Our trio, The Perfect Fourth, was rapidly increasing in popularity outside of school walls and that year we went on to perform at the county fair and made it on television. I was positively reeling. In the fall, I finally scored my lead role in the musical, receiving critical acclaim and publicity for my performance. I still have all the newspaper articles somewhere. When the spring play rolled around, I decided to try my hand behind the scenes of theatre and was made head costumer of the show. I was very proud of my work. Speech brought on another incredible season and tons of wins in my competitions. I was all set to go to the state competition again, when I was given the opportunity to go to Florida, all expenses paid, with a friend. I left the tournament behind for a chance at my first trip out of the Midwest. Worth it. In YPA, I also scored the lead role... as a boy. I couldn't believe it! My big break outside of school theatre and I was cast as a BOY! People didn't even recognize me when I was in costume and I constantly heard people talking about "what a great job the little boy who played Milo did", especially for something as young as he was. I was eighteen.

Friends: I had become such a social butterfly that I had a very difficult time juggling "groups", per se, but I maintained my old friendships as well as started new ones. There was an incredible group of sophomores that year, who were involved with theatre, and they turned to me as a mentor. They loved everything I did to pieces and I loved them right back. It was fun and flattering to have friends like them. I also met an awesome friend-of-a-friend named Joey, who I instantly bonded with. I met Chris, a boy I had gone to junior high with, but never had classes with. From the first day of school, we sat together, class after class, and got lots of time to become incredibly close. My friend, Tony, sat behind me in choir and he was always so dear to me. I could go on and on about all the friendships I developed that year, but I fear I would bore you, one and all. To short-hand it, I was NEVER home, except to sleep; I was always surrounded by awesome friends.

Boys: As I mentioned, I had really broken out of my shell by this time, earning myself the nickname "Freakishly Flirty Paula", which I think was supposed to be a compliment, but I never knew how to take it. In the fall, I got my first boyfriend. He was a sweet guy whom I had known seriously since I could remember, but it was still hardly a relationship. However, we did have a fantastic date to prom that year and I had my first real kiss with this guy, so I can look back on it fondly. After we split that spring, I was asked out by another guy that I had met in my junior year, but never really thought much of because he had a girlfriend at that time. When he asked me out, I was truly caught completely off-guard. I knew he was cute and that I'd had a little crush on him, but had no idea that he felt the same about me. We made it official right before graduation and it became serious pretty quickly after that. I loved him, but we were not in love. In my opinion, being in love is a mutual thing. We didn't last, obviously, but it was another relationship that I could look back on and smile at the sweetness of it.

Keeping Up Appearances: The summer before senior year, I chopped off a foot of my long hair and donated it to Locks For Love for the second time in my life. I always feel good thinking about that and how I may have made some other girl feel beautiful. Anyway, the 'do was short and it took me awhile to figure out how to work with that little amount of hair again, but I managed and experimented with color for the first time ever... after that, I was addicted to coloring my hair (still am). I started doing retro cat-eye makeup; other people started asking me how I did it... now I see it everywhere! My outfits became a little less crazy and a little more comfortable, but I kept those heels on, day after day.

At our graduation ceremony, I received a wonderful opportunity: My friend Jimmy had written an original song and we were selected to be the act to perform at the ceremony. While I was singing, I looked around the gymnasium and started to get choked up. I thought back to my first day of high school as a young teenage girl, too scared to talk to people or to sing out loud. I thought back to my days in that gym when I learned how to dance with a guy. I remembered all my days working on news stories, wondering where to sit at lunch, comparing schedules with friends, sewing class, back-to-school shopping, bus rides... I thought of everything and how far I had come. A few years prior, not many people knew that I could sing at all, and here I was, now an adult, singing alone, in front of 700 of my classmates and thousands of other people. I was grown up now and I wasn't afraid to be me anymore. I had come into my own and had learned to love myself and others. My friend has a tape of that performance and you can almost see what is going through my mind as I sang... "It's hard to remember when you're here/ It's hard to forget your friends/ It's hard to say good-bye..." and I almost cried, right there. But I made it through the song, and when I was done, the applause we were met by gave me the greatest send-off I could imagine.

So senior year for me was my year of success: I had finally earned a couple of lead roles in shows,  I made it big with my singing group and performed a solo in choir. I had my first real boyfriend and first real kiss; I learned what love is. I had solid friendships and good grades, and managed to make it to graduation with all my list checked off. I left Forest Lake High School a very happy and successful graduate. I've grown up even more since then, and I may not have all the same friends, but I can always and will always think back to those years of my life with a major smile. I am so proud of what I did with my life. I hope you can be too.
That's all she wrote,