Last Round of It All

            With only two weeks left as a St. Mary's student, the last events of the year pass by as quickly as ever. Our last SADD (students against destructive decisions) assembly, which consisted of the awe-inspiring Jake French telling us his story. After a playful incident with an intoxicated friend, Jake left the situation a quadriplegic. His motivational speech about making good choices reminded the student body of how precious life is. That weekend was prom, where girls were decked out in beautiful dresses and dancing the night away at the Scottish Rite Center. After all of the stress the schoolwork had brought this year, we celebrated our accomplishments on the dance floor with our closest friends. Next was the lovely National Honors Society induction ceremony where I received my golden stole for the special day (graduation!). And this past week has been the SMA arts or SMArts celebration. Dance club had its annual Dancing with the SMArs charity event where we raised money for p:ear, an organization that builds positive relationships with homeless and transitional youth through education, art and recreation. We held a very successful bake sale in the morning and had a lunch time event to see SMA students perform self choreographed pieces for admission of $1. Collectively we raised $155 throughout the day, celebrating the power of the arts in making a difference in our local community. And lastly there is the spring concerts this week, the dance and orchestra concert featuring our brilliant dancers and musicians and the choir concert featuring the talented Marian's, concert choir, and the show choir and a capella class. It has been a busy time, filled with "lasts" of all kinds. Last time performing in front of the school, last school dance, last SMAD.co practice, last charity event and so forth. I have been incredibly lucky to be involved with such amazing programs, and I would never have dreamed of the opportunities of leadership I have been provided. It's a  bittersweet time of lasts - with firsts to look forward to in the future. 

Appreciation All Around

This past week the St. Mary's community was able to learn about the poverty that so much of the world suffers from and trying to make a change, while celebrating the blessings we have over Easter weekend. Last wednesday was Poverty Awareness day, a yearly event where approximately 200 dedicated and bright students host a day to promote awareness and solutions for global social and political problems. The theme this year was healthcare, and the many branches of issues that fall within that category. Students attended two sessions to learn about certain difficulties faced or programs of aid worldwide. I learned about the Atma Foundation where I was inspired by the influence of a single woman and her family. I was educated more about the Philippines relief, discussing natural disasters that have devastated several countries just in the past few years. As a school we then watched a documentary about the problem of fistulas for women in Ethiopia who cannot afford proper medical care, and a hospital facility that specializes in fistula repair without any financial charges. Additionally we heard a talk from a female medical care provider who traveled to countries like Tanzania for the sake of trying to improve their present healthcare status. By the end of the day money is raised for several foundations, and the whole school is educated on issues that some of us may not have even known existed. The emphasis on social justice at St. Mary's remains present especially for events like this one. 


Additionally this past week I celebrated Passover with my mother and father for the first time without my siblings or friends. I realized that no matter how many people are at the table I still enjoy the meaningful traditions. I ate matza several times a day for days, coming up with creative ways to incorporate it into my meals. While some friends hunted for Easter eggs, others looked for the afikomen. And overall, this festive week was one to remember.

So Long Winter, Hello Spring!

The winter recognition assembly was one of appreciation and admiration for our schools athletes, writers and mock trial participants. Flower petals scattered the floor and the sound of clapping filled the room while our accomplished students stood tall. SMAD.co performed two of our four numbers with our new black sweatshirts, and the students fed off the energy and fun choreography. The ski teams, basketball, swimming, mock trial and more were all honored with titles of excellence because of their outstanding work this past winter. St. Mary's celebrated our feats as a community, like we always do three times a year.

Spring Break 2014 was the last spring break of my high school career! I spent the week with my parents and sister in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona, visiting cousins and going to multiple baseball games. Getting some much needed time in the sun I returned to school ready to successfully finish out the year. Only 2 more months and yet there is so much to do! Spring concerts, SMA arts week, prom, senior retreat - I definitely have a lot to look forward to this April and May. I know the time will fly by, so all I can do is enjoy my last remaining months at the school that has been made my home.

Strong women, you say?

Last week, Annette Holgado became St. Mary's Rose Festival Princess. After having her in my TA for four years, I was so pleased to see such a kind, elegant, intelligent and funny young woman represent the students of St. Mary's in the Rose Festival. It will be sad to see her go early, given that with all of her duties as Princess she must graduate early, but she deserves to have a wonderful time on her journey in May. I have known Annette for a long time, and I want to commend her for her outstanding presence and cunning personality, and wish her well the next few months.

The International Woman's Day assembly touched my heart. It opened with students discussing the cultures of their families, and women within their culture/home country that they admire. Students praised women for their political, social and economic achievements around the world, recognizing the importance of women in global communities. The main speaker of the assembly, a Lutheran mother of a freshman at the school, discussed figures ranging from Esther in the Old Testament to Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan. She related modern and aged stories of the strength of women, commenting on the lack of dialogue about important women in our history and sacred works. Her discourse on strong women accomplishing feats not receiving worthy recognition reached every person in the auditorium. The assembly was wrapped up with a beautiful dance performance by our contemporary dance group, ending a powerful hour for everyone involved. It was very well put together on behalf of Mrs. Salvi and made for a very impactful assembly. 

SMAlentine's & Doernbecher Week

       The week of February 14th was a special one. Ladies writing valentines to one another, buying assortments of candy for friends, finding spare pennies around the house, and digging for clothes to suit the daily Doernbecher week attire. It was a conflicting time: exchanging gestures of love and appreciation with your fellow students while also doing your best to defeat the other classes in Doernbecher week. But really, what could be more fun? Doernbecher week is an amazing time where St. Mary's incorporates a spirit week with raising money for several charities. Every year has a new theme, this years being Portlandia (keep portland weird day, lumberjack day, as Portlanders we know what to do). While dressing up to win points for your class everyday there are also daily lunch events, like Doernbecher idol and dodgeball. The school was on their toes when witnessing the nail biting event of the last round of dodgeball, one math teacher standing alone battling it out with several sophomores. And throughout all the madness of Doernbecher week, we bring in all of our change to donate to the charities, pennies being points added to a class, silver change, cash and checks serving as points deducted from a class. Despite all the frantic fun that this week brought, the charities chosen are wonderful foundations that provide services to various groups of people. Doernbecher Children's Hospital with its phenomenal care and treatments, Gales Creek Camp with a supportive environment for children with diabetes, and FINCA with its outstanding economic support and services for women in underdeveloped countries. Having the opportunity to spend a week participating in fun events while donating to good causes is one of the reasons SMA is such a special place to be. 
        Alongside all of the Doernbecher week madness, on friday the seniors sported our proud color red while delivering valentines and sharing words of love. Whether the seniors win Doernbecher week or not, we enjoyed the time together so much and have loved the spirit that goes along with it every year. After four years we've learned the benefits of communicating our love for one another, making our community stronger and sweeter for everyone involved. With boxes of chocolate and roses to give to our fellow sisters also came words of encouragement and hugs of love to make Valentines day 2014 a great one. 
  

Second Semester Already?

       In the past 168 hours I have taken 7 finals, attended two winter formals and napped for almost an entire day. Studying absorbed my existence for five days which consisted of lighting candles, eating microwaveable burritos and creating hundreds of notecards. And believe or not it all payed off! Finals is the most stressful week of the year, but now that it is over I am embracing second semester with open arms. I loved the fact that after sitting in my bed for a week thinking about emulsification, the reign of James I and my thesis for my in class essay, I could dance it all out at Lincoln's and St. Mary's winter formal. One dance with my boyfriend and one with my SMA ladies - it was a perfect way end to a difficult week. I got ready with my friends before Winter Formal, and had a wonderful dinner at my friends house. After the dance we all watched Bridesmaids and joked around eating sweets, talking about the events of the preceding week. And now, finally, I am a second semester senior! 
        Today I started the first day of my second semester as a senior at St. Mary's Academy. My new classes, Government and Psychology, were really interesting and I'm excited to learn a lot the next few months about these topics. I have my junior year history teacher again who I absolutely love, and am thrilled to have a senior privilege block where I have free time to either catch up on sleep or homework. I feel really positive about this semester, even though I am worried about my motivation. Being in college already, I might have trouble focusing on the work at hand. However, I think I will make the best of my last semester here at SMA and enjoy my friends, family, and schoolwork while I can. 
            

Exams, Exams, Exams

          Next week will (hopefully) be my last full week of finals as a high school student at St. Mary's Academy. And despite my love for this school, life will surely be less stressful when finals are over. With seven tests over four days, you could say I'm taking every precaution to get myself ready. Lighting candles in my room everyday, pulling out the twinkly lights, and organizing my old study notes - I'm ready for anything. 
         What is motivating me is the looming deadline of graduation, and Winter Semi Formal the weekend after finals. Graduation of course has been hanging over all of the seniors heads since the first day of school, somehow acting simultaneously as an incentive to do well for the last few months of high school and as a factor of procrastination for getting daily work done. But Winter Formal is there just for fun. I've only ever been to SMA prom, so Formal will be a new venture for me, and this time I decided to go stag with my closest friends. Even though the seniors are stuck in a period of time where they don't know whether to cry about their ending high school career or cheer for the experiences to come, all I can say is we are enjoying it while it lasts. 

Tis the Season

    It's the last week before Winter Break: research papers are being handed in, hot tea bags are spread throughout the lockers, and everyone is ready to take some time off. The Winter Concert featuring orchestra, piano ensemble, and the different dance groups went swimmingly. All of our hard work paid off, and I am thrilled to be starting new numbers next semester. Surprisingly the past few months have gone by extremely quickly, I can hardly believe that the winter break of my senior year is here and college is taken care of. I was accepted to my first choice school, the University of Puget Sound, with a substantial amount of merit money - so my holiday season could not be better. My family, friends, and teachers are all so supportive and happy that I am going to my top choice school, and I can only thank the opportunities SMA provided me over the years to get me where I am today.


    What I love about the Christmas season is our TA's family Christmas baskets, where we all purchase food, supplies, and gifts for a family in need. We each sign up to bring specific things and compile them throughout December to make a family's Christmas a special one. I love doing this every year because all of us can get caught up in the impending due dates and the constant yearning for the holiday break, but through this tradition of giving I think we are all reminded of how lucky we are to be at SMA and possess such a wonderful life. Whatever you are celebrating this season, happy holidays! 

Noteworthy November

         It's almost Thanksgiving, and the halls are full of hot coffee, big sweaters and tired faces. With second quarter in full swing I think we are all digging in deep again into our schoolwork. With the pouring rain outside, the dark mornings and nights, and the holidays coming up, it is the time of the year when SMA girls are huddled inside with our books and blankets. I Iove November because we all feel at home now; SMA girls have taken the time to feel comfortable and are really absorbing the nurturing atmosphere that embodies the halls of St. Mary's.   

         This past weekend I had the privilege of being an Encounter student leader, and let me tell you, nothing in this world is more meaningful than Encounter. Every year St. Mary's provides girls with retreats: freshmen year is frosh lock-in, sophomore year is the sophomore retreat, junior year is encounter, and senior year is metanoia. To sleep over at the school on a Friday night and engage in a bunch of fun activities with your classmates started off freshmen year in the right way. Sophomore retreat allowed me to get closer to my TA and have a sleepover in the woods with my closest friends. But Encounter is unique. Junior year you spend two and a half days with 70 fellow juniors at Camp Collins in Gresham, where you participate in so many sacred and special activities that have been kept well known secrets for years. The premise of Encounter is to encounter your feelings about your self and others, where many girls can voice their personal struggles while relating to others in their class. They get to know juniors who they may not have known as well beforehand, and for me personally I know that I always pick up a few life lessons along the way. To be able to lead those girls through such a sentimental experience is awe inspiring, and I am so grateful I got that opportunity. This retreat is one of my favorite things that St. Mary's incorporates into one's high school experience, and I think it really teaches young women to value themselves and others. I can't say much more because it is supposed to be a very mysterious event, but know that Encounter is like nothing else a teenage girl has experienced before.  

Good Endings and New Beginnings

        The first quarter has officially ended, and the year continues with a little less tension in our shoulders and worry in our minds. Conferences are in progress, and when my mother came home we delved into what each of my teachers said about my progress in their class. Hearing the positive feedback was reassuring, and it made me proud of my work thus far. I am more confident knowing that I have picked up on the environments of each class and have felt comfortable enough for my teachers to get to know me so well. 
        With the new quarter comes new adventures! The Recognition/Halloween assembly went swimmingly and I have received tons of good feedback from faculty and students about our first performance of the year. I was thrilled to start today the new number of the semester: Danza Kuduro by Don Omar. We are finally getting into a more hip hop like genre of dance, and from the comments I received today like "I love this move," and "Can we do it again? It's so much fun!" assured me that we will continue to enjoy dance practices for the rest of the semester. 
        I am very excited about my last BBW Movie day, where I get the privilege of spending a day with SMA friends watching movies due to our Blues Bridge Walk efforts. Every year I have spent the fun day with someone new, and I am looking forward to getting to know someone better once again while munching on popcorn and watching fun movies. I cannot wait! 

What Could Be Better?

      It's the best time of the year: decked out in autumn attire, relieved after submitting college applications, and excited for the upcoming holidays. Submitting two out of three of my college applications last night was thrilling, all I could think about is the year ahead of me. But coming to school today I was reminded that I cannot lose sight of cherishing my senior year while I can. My TA discussed our Hands Full of Heart activity, a day where the sophomores and seniors volunteer at assigned charities and events. My TA made breakfast food for lunch at a women's shelter, and it was the most fun I've had in a long time. We hilariously spilled some pancake mix, sang top 40's hits while making eggs, and got to know each other a bit better while waiting for the sausages to cook. This special yearly activity helps me remember how much fun I've had with these ladies thus far, and that I still have time to get to know them and enjoy their company. And taking a day to volunteer for people in need also instills in me the St. Mary's focus on giving back to our community, which is an aspect of my education that I want to bring with me to college.

       What makes October the best time of the year is the beautiful season. Walking around downtown with my gloves and scarf, huddling with my closest friends while colorful leaves brush our feet - it really couldn't get any better. Plus, with Halloween this week, SMAD.co is getting ready to perform Michael Jackson's Thriller at our Halloween Assembly! The dancers are pretty nervous to perform for the whole school, but I think a fun and festive Halloween number is just what this school needs to kick off their three-day weekend. 

Mmm mmm mm the leaves are falling

         Pumpkins, halloween, beautiful trees, cold weather, warm clothing, seasonal food - just some of my favorite things about October. Now is finally the time of year when student's schedules are settled and classes are starting to become more familiar each day. We are becoming more comfortable with our newfound teachers, classwork, and friends, and our extra curriculars are kicking off. But what was pleasantly new this year was the hype for my senior spirit week. The level of excitement and energy for our senior year was explosive, and I've never seen so much red in my life. After going to lunch time activities and decking out in the daily attire (whether it be pajamas or the tackiest tourist clothes we own) the whole school was more spirited than I've ever seen them. It was a blast to bond even more with my class and enjoy a little competition with the other grades for a week. I can't wait until Doernbecher week, because the seniors still have a lot of fire in them!
          While meeting with my English teacher last week to go over my college essay, we shared a very touching moment that reminded me of how close I am to the faculty of St. Mary's. She commented on how my essay was very authentic to who I am, recounting an old story of me in my freshman year English class doing a self-evaluation. Just the fact that my teacher remembered such a simple incident, and knows me well enough to judge my work and help me improve my writing, made my week.
           As a last tidbit of information, I want to express how in awe I am of the wonderful Blues Bridge Walk that SMA holds each October. This school fundraiser really makes each student feel a part of a team, joining together to collect money for tuition assistance, extracurricular activities, and other academic needs that make the school what it is. As a school we collected over $100,000, and enjoyed a lovely walk to the Steel Bridge and back with friends and coworkers. I reconnected with the ladies in my TA and am sad to have walked my last BBW.

And Welcome Back!

          Senior year. This is it. And it's amazing. I can't express how comfortable of a transition it was back to the daily school schedule, despite my copious summer adventures that I will miss having. I felt the same way the first day of classes this year as my first day as a freshman at St. Marys: excited, nervous, and hopeful. The start of a new year provides promises of meaningful experiences inside and out of the classroom, and I am nothing but ready to embrace them all. In reality the workload was tossed on pretty quickly, but I've adjusted to that pretty well the past few years. What really reminded me of why I love being here so much was the Welcome Back Assembly. The ASB put on an awesome performance, and the teachers danced to "Safe and Sound" with their iPads. The special effects they implemented, using different colors on their ipads to dance and spell out SMA in the end, was rather impressive. This is what makes St. Mary's so unique, we get the pleasure of watching and cheering on all of our teachers as they dance (sometimes foolishly) to a poppy song. It is definitely one of my favorite parts of the year, and it saddens me to know that I saw my final dance number a few weeks ago.
           The hardest part to manage this year has been implementing my college application work into my schedule. I am so tight on time with homework and my extra curriculars that it is difficult to squeeze in time to think about my future. I am applying early decision and early action, which on the positive side means that I will be done with my college duties and know where I'm going before Christmas break. The college process can be a bit stressful, but with plenty of college counselor meetings and good time management, I should be able to finish everything I need to. The start of the year has provided me with the hope that my senior year will be successful and enjoyable, and knowing St. Mary's, I am positive that that will happen.

Returning Home

 

 St. Mary's, oh how I've missed you throughout these summer adventures. This has been a season to remember: driver's ed., a trip to Hawaii and soon New York, taking senior pictures, swing dancing with my boyfriend, and wonderful concerts with my St. Mary's girls. Even with all of these fun activities to occupy my time, I can't help but be pumped about the upcoming school year. My schedule is packed with classes that I imagine being less than easy, but I don't mind. The challenges to come are always rewarding, and adjusting to a new schedule makes you feel as though you've got a great year ahead of you. I'll admit that it is hard to focus on summer homework when all I can think about is returning to my beloved dance company. The past two and a half years with these dedicated young women has been a treat, and it's where I belong. Hearing about everyone's summer experiences of trips, classes, and blossoming friendships makes the first few months of school a breeze with so much to reminisce about. The prospect of being a senior is a little daunting, but I know that 2013-2014 will bring with it the best of memories here at SMA.