I know what you’re all thinking. Don’t start with this sappy BS. But I can’t help it!! As I’m sitting with all my best friends on the bus for my last overnight competition in show choir, I’m feeling a little nostalgic.
As “Gone, Gone, Gone” by Phillip Phillips plays on the speakers (give it a listen while you read this, it’ll set the mood), I can’t believe this year is coming to an end.
I want to use this blog to just ponder on all things that have happe
ned, and are happening in high school. So many things are going on, and my outlook on this year has changed so much. I started out with a mindset of “this is stupid, senior year is overrated.” Now, here I am, in airband, the senior variety show, assassins, and senior board. I’m your run-of-the-mill NNHS husky senior!
Airband
Trying out for airband was – simply put – terrifying. We had barely prepared and had nothing going for us…except for our friendship. Finishing the audition, the judges told us how connected we were, and we were so hyped.
We all met up afterwards and waited for the results, and when I tell you that everyone cried, I mean EVERYONE. As we group-hugged and took silly timer-selfies, I realized that my high school dream came true. I was going to perform onstage with 2,000 people watching.
Assassins
First off, Meg Sparacino, if you’re reading this – I know you’re coming after me for assassins, and I refuse to let it happen.
Assassins is strange. It’s honestly way too stressful for me and I feel very paranoid 24/7. Although it has brought me a lot of laughs. My friend Mikayla pretended to have me for assassins to prank me. She legit parked outside of my house for nearly an HOUR after my rehearsal. She blocked my driveway and I had to chase her away…so committed to the prank!
Overall, assassins is absolutely terrifying. Lauren Sun, I hope you see this and know how stressed I was seeing you every day in class knowing you had me for assassins. Now I can’t focus EVER because I barely know who has me!
(If anyone has info on my assassin please lmk)
Senior Variety Show
For some odd reason, I feel that only the most “senior” of seniors emcee some sort of event. You always see those popular kids up onstage cracking funny jokes. I am not one of those people. Despite that, me and three other of my dweeby friends auditioned to emcee the senior variety show (surprise, surprise…we were the only ones to audition). As I’m currently writing my script for it, I realized how unfunny I am, but that’s for another day.
Theatre
NNHS Theatre has been a large part of my life for the past four years. My first show was this awful production called “Breaking News.” By no means was it bad because of the school or directing or anything like that. It was genuinely just not a good script. Little old Erin was so thrilled to have just 14 lines on that stage (yes I do remember how many lines I had).
When I think about my growth throughout my time in theatre, it feels almost surreal. Freshman year I barely auditioned, while sophomore I got cut from a show, which came as a shock when it occurred. After being at callbacks for 6 hours for the freshman-sophomore show, I received a cast list without my name on it.
Fast forward to Senior year. I directed the same show I got cut from (the Freshman-Sophomore play) and I got a pretty large role in Romeo & Juliet — Lady Capulet represent!! I also attended my first Theatrefest, which was an experience and a half that I might get to in another blog. 😉
The growth I see from freshman to senior year is not one of acting skills. I had the same skills I had freshman year (I never really took acting classes or anything). My growth came directly from my confidence. I auditioned for each show this year with nothing but CONFIDENCE. I owned those stages and it showed!!
Theatre has had such a large impact on my friends and community. Those are the people who I am most comfortable with, and I wouldn’t give that up for anything.
Show Choir
Now that I’ve arrived at the hotel for our final overnight show choir competition, I’m feeling a little strange. Some huge part of my life is almost gone, and I’m not really sure what to do about it.
Looking back on these four years, the confidence I’ve gained from these competitions is absolutely insane. I now can strut down 4 rows of risers and hit a pose with absolutely NO hesitation. If freshman year Erin in the back row saw me now, she wouldn’t believe it.
Goodbyes
Sorry for the sappiest little blog ever, I hope it brought everyone some joy. I’d love to hear some of your favorite senior year moments as of now, or any memories from these four years.
The time is now for us to graduate and move on, so make sure you’re enjoying every second of it. Even if you have an entire semester project to do before it ends. 🙂
I’ve written so many blogs like this. It’s hard not to get sad over something you feel like was so good. The senior fashion show was today and it was something I had looked forward to since I was a freshman. The fact that now that’s over completely blows my mind. So I totally get it. Soak it all in, all of those amazing lasts. I can promise you that I will be writing more blogs very similar to yours in the future.
OMG! Congrats on the fashion show! I was so sad I couldn’t do it, but after they asked me to be a part of it, I realized that it was the same weekend as a show choir competition and I genuinely felt I wouldn’t be able to wake up. But yes, it’s so sad! I can’t believe it’s almost over!