HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR YEAR IN REVIEW.
Sooooo I finished high school! Yay! Last year, I made a "junior year in review" YouTube video & blog post. I loved it so much that I decided to do it again this year! Okay, so maybe this year, the posts are coming litttttle later. But at least they're here! I hope you enjoy seeing my past year at a glance! If there is a YouTube blog of mine from that month, I will be adding it at the end of that month's "review" in case any of y'all want to watch it!
AUGUST:
At the beginning of August, I started my senior year of high school, aka the last year with my choir & my last year in Alabama. I also turned 17, went to the second annual trampoline park lock-in with my youth group, & started my year serving as the president for my school's choir. I said goodbye to my friends that were going off to college & played lots of Disney Crossy Road in Economics class.
Beginning of Senior Year Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq_5Mr-8tZ8
September:
September started with the rival football game week at my school. On the day of the football game, I got my acceptance letter to my college! It made it 1,000 times cooler that some of my best friends were at my house when I got my acceptance letter in the mail! My choir started Christmas music for our Christmas concert that was going to be in December (yes, that may seem early. But to a choir student, it's not. It's actually one of the greatest days of the year when that music gets passed out!). I also had a senior girls sleepover with Allysa & Remi & went to see the Hillsong United movie with Emily, which was great because we snuck Great American Cookies into the theatre & we had the entire theatre to ourselves! Besides getting my college acceptance letter, the most important thing that happened to me in September by far was the fact that I auditioned for Fantasy's A Christmas Carol. I auditioned on September 10th & I found out that I got into the show on September 13th. Fantasy & ACC changed my life in the greatest way possible, giving me the most amazing theatre family, a way to meet so many talented, sweet, & loving people, & a way to get to act in the community. I won't go on for too log, but Fantasy changed my life & impacted it so much in just the short year that I was with them as a part of their cast or crew. Thank you so much to every single actor, techie, director, producer, costume maker, makeup & hair artist, & everyone else who made my year at Fantasy the greatest year of my life. I love y'all so much!!!
OCTOBER:
October held lots of events for me. The first thing that happened was Homecoming week, which resulted in lots of costumes & pictures of costumes. Before we went to the dance that Saturday, everyone ate dinner at my house, which is something we had done every year since my freshman year (minus my sophomore year because I didn't go to that homecoming dance haha). My last fall concert with my choir was after that, which is where I performed "Gravity" by Sara Bareilles with my choir, as well as "Story of Tonight" from the Broadway musical, Hamilton, with five other seniors. The cool thing about that performance was that we arranged all the harmonies & little "added-in" things ourselves! I also attended a Huntsville theatre awards show that month with my mom & sister. The month ended with a Halloween party at John's house, which resulted in everyone eating way too much pazookie, trick-or-treating, & me getting sent home early by Alex & John because I was losing my voice & All-State auditions were that next week.
(Oh, October also held lots & lots of rehearsals for Christmas Carol!)
"Story of Tonight" cover from Fall Concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqVRttuIJys
"Gravity" cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKFpUuk7rrU
NOVEMBER: November was a very artsy month for me. To start it off, I had Trumbauer, which is a school theatre competition. I placed state level with my Solo Female Musical Theatre Dramatic performance of "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Misérables (I unfortunately couldn't accept my spot to advance to the state level competition, though, due to a call time for A Christmas Carol. But that's okay!). After that, I had All-State choir auditions, which I made! This was the first time since middle school that I had made it into the All-State choir, so it was a big deal for me! I held a Charlie Brown Friendsgiving for all my choir friends, which resulted in eating lots of unhealthy food. I discovered a place in Huntsville called Lowe Mill, which turned out to be one of my most favorite spots in all of Huntsville, aside from Fantasy's building & the playhouse where all of our Fantasy shows were performed at. I met my cousin's baby for the first time & to top it all off, we had lots of Christmas Carol rehearsals & TECH WEEK!
November Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVVl3CdLD30
DECEMBER: Oh, December. December was FULL of performances. Literally. The first two weekends of December, I had shows for A Christmas Carol. After the first weekend of Christmas Carol shows, I had my last ever choir Christmas concert. Then I had school shows for A Christmas Carol, the second weekend of shows of A Christmas Carol, & then dress rehearsal & performance for 15/30, which was my final showcase for my fall semester theatre class at school. After school got out, it was Christmas! I got to see my family & I also went to take lots of pictures with Abigayle. December was full of shows, for sure, but I loved every minute of it. I loved all the late nights of tech week, hanging out backstage with all of the cast & crew, performing for audience after audience, getting into multiple costumes, & just making memories. Thanks for making my first & last Christmas Carol such a great one, Fantasy family!
Christmas Carol Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9A3Ztu1c8g
Christmas Break Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EkAB4qbbyg
JANUARY:
January was the start of my final semester of high school. January never really seems to hold much for me, but I did do some things! I attended my last DNOW (Disciple NOW) conference with my youth group, did my sister's makeup to look like interpretations of different Disney characters, & saw La La Land with my mom (which if you haven't seen that movie, you need to ASAP. That movie is literally life changing for any musical fan oh my goodness).
FEBRUARY:
Like January, February wasn't full of too many things. I performed "She Used To Be Mine" from the Broadway musical, Waitress, & "City of Stars" from the movie, La La Land, with my friend, Joe, for an open mic during lunch at school one day. I hosted the second annual "Galentine's Day" party at my house, which turned into us questioning Beyonce's Grammy performance & on February 17th, my school had a half day, so I filmed a French class project with my group members. After filming, I hung out with John & Bryley & we walked around my neighborhood, going through random houses that were up for construction. Alex joined us that night & we went to Chick-Fil-A & to see a local high school's performance of Little Shop of Horrors. Even though it wasn't a big thing that happened, that was one of my favorite things that I did in February. I also had the privilege of directing my spring theatre class's production of, Lies About High School, an annual performance we put on for the upcoming freshman. That was so much fun & probably one of my favorite things that I did my senior year! The only other things that I did in February pretty much were going to downtown Huntsville with Alex to explore & I saw my high school's production of Jungle Book one last time before they took the show to SETC (South Eastern Theatre Conference).
February Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqAyRoemttM
"She Used To Be Mine" Live Cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gHLakk4mzw
MARCH:
Okay, so March was probably my busiest month my second semester of senior year. I started off the month by going down to Birmingham, Alabama with my choir director & the rest of the choir students who made All-State for our two days of rehearsals before our All-State concert that Saturday. I roomed with three of my friends who surprised me by decorating our entire hotel room since it was my last ever All-State (thanks again for doing that, Sarah, Maddie, & Zoë!). After All-State, I went back to school for a week, which is when Joe & I realized we were amazing songwriting partners. The next week was spring break, which was spent house hunting in Tennessee, going to Lowe Mill (surprise, surprise!) with Alex, & getting my senior pictures taken by my friend, Fern. The Monday after spring break was over, I went to Dairy Queen with a bunch of my choir friends for free ice cream cone day. Our choir competition/assessment, SCPA, was two days later, which we scored all ones (the highest score you can get!) at. That's the first time my high school's choir had scored all ones at SCPA, so as a graduating senior, that was REALLY exciting! After a bus ride back that resulted in a braid train between Allysa, me, & Joe, we finished the week by going to prom that Saturday! All of my friends & I met up at John's house before prom for picture taking & pizza eating, went to the dance, then went to Remi's house after the dance for lots of junk food & Netflix watching. The very end of March was the best because that meant it was (finally!) time for the choir's trip to Walt Disney World for competition! Disney was filled with lots of great memories, food, pictures, & laughs. Of course, we were also a bit sleep deprived from the overnight bus ride & the long days in the parks, which made us a bit snippy, but I wouldn't trade my last trip with my choir in for more sleep or less time in ride lines or anything in between:)
March Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_vBg1zJs5A
Animal Kingdom Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISiX51rISpc
Magic Kingdom Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctg5-W6o3wA
Epcot & Hollywood Studios Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlIVXb-GmWA
Walt Disney World Trip Meet & Greets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uApwNvzW4U8
APRIL:
After we got back from Disney, it felt like I was gone from school practically all of April, even though I was pretty much gone all of March, too. I started it off by attending my choir's first ever end of the year banquet. The seniors got to write a speech for it, which ended up with Remi, Charlene, & me sitting in my car after school while it was pouring rain outside, just trying to finish it a few hours before the banquet because we couldn't get all of our thoughts together fast enough during our class time. The next day, mom & I went on a college tour of my future college! I had my last ever choir concert with my high school choir, which turned into almost every single senior bawling on the stage while the rest of the choir sang "Homeward Bound" (the song our group had grown up singing in the school's choir all four years) to us as our "senior song." I also had my last public performance as a high school theatre student, which also made me cry, especially when Zach, who has been like a little brother to me for years, started crying backstage after the show. The choir seniors had our "skip" day (which was a day that we had off anyways because we didn't want our choir director to get mad at us for skipping a rehearsal right before the spring concert!) & two weekends full of teching backstage at Fantasy's production of Pinocchio, which was the last Fantasy show my family got to be a part of before we moved. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to be a part of the Jet Choir, JCT, & the Fantasy family during my high school career! Those three programs made high school the best four years ever.
MAY:
May, aka my last month of high school! May was pretty bland at first, just doing a bunch of senior event things at school, finishing up classwork, & soaking in all the last days as a high school student. Then on May 18th, I took my last final as a high school student & I was officially done with high school! My friends & I celebrated by going to get Mexican food & shopping at the mall. That weekend was then filled with grad parties, both mine & others. I graduated on May 22nd, sang with my high school choir one last time, then walked across the stage to get my diploma. I went to one last pool party at Ava's on everyone else's last day of school & said my final goodbyes to all of my friends, then the movers came, packed up our things, & moved us back to Tennessee!
April & May Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUb33if6dDU
Graduation & Moving Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d_J8UBC0ZI
Thank you so much for following me on this journey! I had the best four years of my life (so far) in high school & I made so many amazing memories with even more amazing people! I can't wait to see what this next chapter in my life has in store for me & hope y'all are excited as well! Thanks for reading this! -GC
Senior Year Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-NRIgJXUfM&t=109s