My Final Senior CAS Blog

A Wild Journey

Well, the 2019 to 2020 school year sure has proved wild, huh. It wasn't what we expected, but it also hasn't been all bad. There has been crazy celebrations, exciting experiences, memorable meltdowns, stubborn senioritis, real relationships, lasting late-nights, panic-inducing pandemics, and so, so much more that will stay with me forever. I don't regret a single thing from my unusual senior year as I learned more about myself, advanced my knowledge, and started my journey into the next chapter.

 Junior Year: It Begins

Let's start where this began: junior year (aka, my first year as an IB Diploma Candidate). I knew I had wanted to be in the IB Program since 4th grade (my aunt had also went through the program when she was in high school, I wasn't a fan of AP courses and their constricted methods, and I knew I needed a place where I could be myself and thrive with others in love with learning), and walking into my first IB class as a junior just felt so right. It was small, comfortable, eye-opening, and challenging all at the same time. From that point on, we were a unit. A unit that all traveled together from class to class like a little pack of nerds the rest of the school was baffled by as they would always say, "You're in IB? What in the world, I could never. Too much crazy insane work. You guys are too smart." It was really funny actually.

Senior Year: Never Stopped Being Interesting

Senior year was quite something as it both began and ended in, I guess you could say, interesting ways...I missed the second and third days of school for a family reunion. I had a few breakdowns throughout the first few months of the fall semester due to thinking the world was ending because I was gonna have to graduate, and I decided to think everything meant everything meant everything, crying in dark classrooms and in the halls. We had a sub, the lovely Ms. Mason, until December because our awesome IB World Lit teacher, Marsha, decided to go and have twins because two other boys under six wasn't enough. The lunchroom wasn't nerdy enough for the IB seniors so we ate with our teachers instead. In March, big assignments like the World Lit WA, TOK Essay, History IA, and more were due at once. And, finally, the world did come to an "end" as Corona kicked in and online-classes became the new norm, senior year being taken away and global IB Exams being cancelled!!

Unforgettable IB Moments

But hey, it's alright, because we are the generation that will spark beautiful change, and there are some key IB moments I will never forget:

When I turned 17, I walked into TOK to be met with a chocolate birthday cake and my IB family singing to me; Brewer then proceeded to put on a mathematical video on how to properly and equally cut the cake I then tried to master.

The 2019 Honors Night was filled with surprises as I was awarded numerous accolades I didn't even know existed.

Prom 2019 was so much fun as I took pictures with my IB teachers and danced with them and my friends all through the night.

I loved being a Junior Honor Marshal and getting to ride home with Cirel one day and go back up to the school the other to wait until school got out so I could go to American Pie Pizzeria for my last day tradition with Taylor, Katie, and Haley before the graduation ceremony.

I remember taking my first, and only as it turned out, IB Exam for Spanish with Haley and then going swimming for hours after. I even found out a was a total adrenaline-junkie and became obsessed with roller coasters.

Even the first day of senior year was wild as I wore my senior jersey and then, before school even ended, left for Litchfield Beach in South Carolina for that amazing family reunion, missing some school.

 

Senior year, we didn't even get to be with Marsha the whole time because of her new beautiful twins (Pictured is our sub, Ms. Mason, and me. Not the new beautiful twins lol)!

I definitely loved that we stopped walking 1,000 miles around the school to get to the lunchroom to eat and simply enjoying our lunch in Marsha's room with the English teachers on Bdays and with McCormick on Adays.

Going to the Atlanta High Museum was a blast as we connected with the IB juniors and got to eat various cultural foods.

I, finally, got my Driver's License, and when I turned 18, Mr. McCormick made me and the class delicious homemade brownies.

When I was awarded as the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program School Representative, I was overjoyed. The IB Program is incredibly important to me, and the family unit we created is open-minded and well-rounded as we spent two years together facing and taking on this rigorous program. My IB family had already dubbed me as “IB Mom,” and having them, our IB teachers, and our IB coordinator award me as their Sweetheart truly validated all the hard work I had put into helping others and myself in all of my academics, athletics, arts, and clubs.

It was such an honor to represent our Creativity, Activity, Service, intelligence, and international thinking. I hope to continue making them, our school, and myself proud as I represent this demanding yet rewarding program known all around the world. Homecoming was an absolute blast as I a showed my school spirit every single day and was honored that Homecoming Friday as a Sweetheart, my family from Florida visiting just to celebrate me.

I was awarded my letterman jacket for varsity volleyball and celebrated during my senior night; Mr. Brewer came to support the team.

In January 2020, finishing my Extended Essay with 3,999 words that started with over 10,000 words was such an accomplishment as I learned so much about books, censorship, and religion around the world.

Wearing 10 different shirts was fun as I ran around the school to take all my club pictures.

When I raised $340 for the Ferst Foundation through my CAS Project, Blind Date with a Book, in February, I was so inspired as I witnessed the impact of literature and education on my community.

Uploading huge IB assignments to the international IBO portal was such a relief as I saw all my hard work in one place; I then proceeded to print out all my major works from all my different IB courses and make a binder of sheet protected copies to have in hand and call my "IB Baby."

I'll remember how our IB camping trip to South Carolina on March 13th was cancelled because of COVID-19 and how, from then on, I was separated from my IB family and school. I won't forget how my senior activities were taken and tears were shed.

The Good Reigns Superior

However, overall, the good overshadows the pain as I loved sharing my opinions, talking about the books I read and movies I watched, taking field trips through the school together, hiding in Brewer's back room and rolling and screaming on the ground because of IB struggles, eating treats in TOK, talking freely, playing strange music, trying to tape back together our IB Math books that seem to fall apart with us, venting in the IB Group-chat, and an even longer list of so much more I can't even think of right now because it just makes me cry.

 

A True International Baccalaureate Family

In the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, we truly formed a family, a family in love with culture and adventure, influencing me as I myself influenced it and those within. Being a part of Carrollton High School’s IB family made my school career so wonderful that I will never forget the progressive, inspirational knowledge I acquired, growing as a person and student due to the brilliant teachers, students, and curriculum that taught me the universal and personal strengths that come from worldwide reading, thoughtful analysis, and heated discussion; I now know how to express myself, not just by pen and paper, but by voice and action. I can't wait to represent CHS, the IB Program, and all that's to come at the university level (Georgia Sate University!), growing into someone I can be even more proud of and love as I face change and become an independent individual ready to step out of my comfort zone, meet new people, advance my knowledge, and thrive in newfound love and adversity. Writing these reflections helped me to enjoy and appreciate all the things that I accomplished during IB, making me a Knowledgeable, Open-Minded, Caring, Balanced, and Principled Inquirer, Thinker, and Communicating Risk-Taker, and now that it is over, I love being able to Reflect on these two years that are so hard to put into the beautiful words they deserve.