Senior year is coming to an end where seniors worry about missing grades as well as senior portfolios.  For my portfolio, I selected some of my best classwork and drawings pertaining to my career choices. They might not be the most interesting assignments but they are my best work so far this year.  Most of the work I put in there is because I am thinking of going into a journalism or art based work study. Over the past few years, I have taken both journalism and art as two of my main studies in high school.

One of my main goals in life and schooling is to become part of a large newspaper industry, such as the Charleston Gazette-mail (A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Newspaper) and to share my work throughout my community, just like reporters do for the Gazette and on the news.

At West, I am part of one of the most organized school newspaper journalism team that I have witnessed throughout my journalism career.  During my first year of journalism, our team had a hard time getting things in on time, as well as coordinating with other team members to make sure each topic has an article and picture to go with it.  I am extremely amazed at the effort this year’s team has put forth on our online newspaper (www.cavtalk.org). Thanks to my teacher Ms.Arp, I have learned a whole lot pertaining to journalism and how to take a  publish-worthy photo. I have had a great time writing and capturing unforgettable moments as a Cavalier and I hope to pass my position as Head of Photography, Head Photo Editor and writer down to someone who will take these positions seriously and possibly take these to the next level.

On another note, I probably would not have made it as far as I did without having such wonderful caring friends who were always there for me through rough times and who would take time to sit down and talk things out when we had a falling out.  I hope to stay in touch with them after high school and even hang out on our free times when we are not at work or we do not have school. I honestly can not imagine life after high school without them.

To be completely honest, I am not ready for the real world or the challenges that come along with being an adult.  At the beginning of the year, I wanted this year to go by as fast as it could so I could move out, get a job and drive myself places where I want to go.  And now that we have less than thirty-five days left of our senior year, I just can not believe how fast the time has passed. It is hard to think that too long ago (or so it feels) my senior year had just begun.  You do not put much thought to growing up, you think it is easy, but in the end, there are a lot of major changes and responsibilities that come along with being an adult.

Some of the responsibilities that come with adulthood are bills, car payments, house payment, coming up with money for food and drinks, etc.  Overall, my senior year has been a blast, and I enjoyed spending it with my great teachers who taught me so much, my loving family who were there for me from the beginning, and also my friends.  This is definitely a year I will not forget. In the years to come, I am planning on attending New River Community and Technical College in Lewisburg and living with my family for two years. After that, I am thinking of attending West Virginia University in Morgantown or West Virginia State University in Institute, West Virginia to finish my degree.