Thoughts of a Dumb Blonde

     Its February 28th. Tomorrow is already the first day of March. This year feels like it's going by fast. Usually the first couple of months drag on, but it's already going into the third month of the year. Even though the months are moving fast, school seems to last forever. Everything I have to do keeps piling up and junior year seems to have no end. I'm so ready for summer. I'm ready to be free and have fun with my friends and family. I just want all of my work to disappear. I want to be able to relax.

   The school shooting in Parkland, Florida is a tragedy. It’s a tragedy because so many innocent teenagers lost their lives. It’s a tragedy because it shouldn’t have happened. As a country we have had several school shootings over the last couple decades. Students, parents, faculty, and many others are trying to make sure that the shooting on February 14th, 2018 is not forgotten like so many others have been. Some people question whether or not high school students should be able to voice their opinions towards national issues, but why shouldn’t they? These students were the victims. They witnessed their friends and teachers getting shot; many of which were killed. So they, as well as the rest of us, have to show that this should not have to be our reality. We should not have to be afraid to go to school. The people that are running our country and making our laws did not have to suffer through these kinds of tragedies. The school shootings that occur today did not happen whe...

     Yesterday I went to a softball clinic hosted by Leah Amico and the Penn State Behrend softball team. Leah Amico is a three-time Olympic softball gold medalist. For the first half of the clinic we went through hitting drills. During the  second half we worked on throwing and defensive skills. Overall, we got some really good coaching and I got to work on a lot of good skills. It was nice to work a little before the season starts on March. Plus at the end we got to take pictures with Leah Amico and I got to wear all of her gold medals! Now I have new skills and a great story. How many people get to see, let alone wear, Olympic gold medals in their life time? Not very many and I’m now one of them.

     I'm so happy that my boyfriend and I got to celebrate our first Valentines Day as well as his eighteenth birthday! I haven't really posted about my boyfriend because I usually keep him out of this kind of stuff, but I decided he deserved some appreciation. We've been together for eleven months and honestly I'm really lucky to have him in my life. He's always there for me and makes me smile no matter how I feel. He is so supportive of everything I do and try's his best to come to all of my events. It's hard to believe my boy is eighteen today. He'll be graduating in a few months and I'm excited to see where he goes with his life. I hope he stays by my side for a long time.

     The first thing I would tell high school students trying to start their college search is to utilize the resources available. There are so many tools, like websites, that can help with your college search. Sign up with raise.me to get started. Rise.me gives students access to micro-scholarships for their achievements in high school. Their site is actually set up to benefit students that start early. Students will want to fill out every applicable section of their site and keep them update as the go through their high school career. Raise.me is also a good place to keep track of things like hours. Another website I use often is https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org . This website is a good way to find colleges that match what you may be looking for. They also have seasonal challenges for each grade throughout high school. These challenges help you to complete tasks working towards college. Having a college board account will also come in handy later when it is time for ...

     Today I went to a college fair in Pittsburgh. There were over 370 college there. This was my first college fair so I was a little overwhelmed by how many schools were there. Every time I’d stop at a booth I’d get a bunch of papers. I ended up with an entire bag filled with brochures and papers. I have no clue when or how I’m going to get through looking at them all. I was hoping the fair would help me, but honestly I think I’m even more confused than I was before.

     I officially started my internship with raise.me today! I’ll be working with about 190 other students from across the country. We will be writing posts to be published on their blog: blog.raise.me . I’m really excited to start working with everyone. I’ve already started talking to a lot of people and it’s so cool getting to see how different yet similar everyone is. We all have so many different talents. The most common are writing, photography, and artistic things such as drawing, painting, or even performing. I will be receiving weekly challenges with prompts to complete. These are short answer prompts and will usually have to be 100-150 words. Because of this, I will be sharing motified (longer) versions of these prompts on this blog. I will also share my bigger works along the way. I’m looking forward to getting started soon.

     So I've been looking into the Disney College Program for like three years now. I just found out one of my friends got accepted and is going down to Orlando for the program soon. I'm really excited for her and I can't wait to hear all about it. It's nice to be able to get an opinion about the program from someone I know who actually got to go. I love the idea of working at the place I love so much. Honestly being accepted to the Disney College Program would be a dream. Hopefully I can get a lot of advice that will help me get accepted in the future.