Jessica+G

I remember the very first day, walking into Green Hope as a tiny freshman in high school. The ceilings were much higher, the building much larger, and overall, the surroundings were much, much more intimidating than those of Davis Drive Middle. I looked around me at all the seniors, looming over me with their extra three years of puberty and size. I felt like a tiny guppy in a gigantic pond, all the other bigger fish swimming about me, getting lost in a cruel food chain, against me in the odds. As I looked around, I soon realized that this was no longer the comfortable, little middle school I had once attended: This was high school. I was the typical freshman, lacking size, strength, or social skills. I had entered high school seemingly all alone, leaving me without any real self-esteem. Although it seemed as if my next year of school would be dismally endured alone, things began to pick up as the football season began, and I went with my middle school acquaintance, Julie Quinn, and her friend, Emily Driver. I had already been pals with Julie from Davis Drive, but it was here that I met Emily, and even today she is one of my best friends. Finally, I seemed to be enjoying high school, soaking up the social aspect and the whole atmosphere of the sporting event. As the fall continued, I was a frequent attendee of every single football game, continuing to meet new people and create new friendships that would continue to last me through all of my time at Green Hope. Being the gigantic nerd that I was, I set extremely high goals for myself, scoring above a 97% in all of my classes first semester of freshman year. I also became involved in the drama department, auditioning as part of the chorus in the fall production of “Wind of a Thousand Tales.” Even though Mrs. Wright mandated that the chorus attend every practice, it was overall a very unproductive time for all of us after school, due to her lack of directing skills. The benefit of this was the time to develop friendships with even more people. It was here that I made even more friends, further expanding my social circle to people such as Ryan Aves and Alex Joiner, whom I had met during the making of this production.  In addition to the play in the fall, I became involved on the JV soccer team in the spring. I had tried out for the team at Davis Drive Middle both in seventh and in eighth grade, but neither year had I made the team. So when I had actually been asked to join the Green Hope team, my confidence soared, and it felt amazing. I improved so much during the season, practicing every day, and felt like I had earned a real spot in my high school where I was beginning to fit in.  It was the end of my freshman year when my awkwardness seemed to be melting away. My involvement in school, expanding of social circles, and academic success allowed me to develop self confidence and I felt an overall sense of happiness and content with my life. And so came sophomore year.  It was amazing how the loss of my awkwardness worked to my advantage during 10th grade year! By this time, I felt integrated into a close-knit network of friends, including Julie Quinn, Emily Driver, Alyssa Williams-Sinn, Jennifer Berger, Aeriell Blais, Rachel Mann, and many more. Every weekend, all of us would do random and fun things together, including walking to Stone Creek to buy ice cream on Friday nights, having huge sleepovers, and swimming often in Alyssa’s pool. It was also during sophomore year when Guitar Hero became hugely popular, and it was then that I came under the spell of this new obsession. With our purchase of a Wii, I practiced about a couple hours after school every day, quickly beginning to smother anyone who dare oppose my unrivaled skill in the art of tapping colored buttons on a plastic guitar. While continuing to study every day in my honors classes, I made the soccer team once more, and played even more time during the games as a forward. It was also during this year that I had my first boyfriend named Matt and got my first kiss, which had actually turned out to be sufficiently awkward. But the school year ended on a very bright note, all my friends still closely tied together, and I had an amazing summer. It was then that I went to an All Time Low show, and had crowd surfed for the first time. I felt comfortable enough where I could finally break out of my shell!  With Junior year came three AP classes, lots of sleepless nights, and evenings full of agonizing school work and studying. Literally, I cried four times during the first two weeks of 11th grade. The amount of stress I endured was overwhelming, and I felt like I couldn’t handle it. However, as the year progressed, I slowly learned how to manage all the work and tackle the difficulty as best I could. It was disappointing when I received my first B in all of high school during this year, but overall, I knew I was doing the best I could.  With the addition of all this stress and work came the slow disintegration of my friend group. It was sad, all of us breaking away into different directions and continuing our pursuit of attending the colleges of our dreams. I couldn’t have been happier that Junior year was coming to a close.  As Senior year began, college applications, SAT scores, and my GPA started to creep up on me. I became extremely anxious, as I was determined to attend UNC Chapel Hill, yet knew I had to compete with thousands of others. 12th grade is truthfully a blur, and the event that stands out most to me was the day I was accepted into my dream university. My next big memory is going to be graduation, and I cannot wait to become an alumnus of Green Hope High School and a new college student at the University of North Carolina! 