Creativity: Senior Girls Spirit Group

As senior year approached I decided that I needed to find a way to bring spirit to my grade and to make my final year of high school memorable.  I had seen other spirit groups at surrounding schools so i decided to start my own at Westlake.  I got together all of the girls in my grade and we began to work on a plan to add to the school spirit of the school.  I designed a t shirt and collected money from all of the members. We made baskets for the athletes and attended every game with signs and in our uniforms.  The group created a lively spirit in the senior class and we created memories that will never be forgotten.  Hopefully we started a tradition that will not end any time soon.

Creativity and Service: A Walk With A Pop

Being involved with Project Unify has been one of the most impactful and meaningful experiences of my life.  I thought I had passion for creating social equality before I began to be so involved in the group but quickly realized that i had no idea what passion was before spending time with so many amazing people who were involved in the special needs community.  I had created such a strong relationship with my teacher advisor and her daughter who has Downs Syndrome, Emme.  That's why when I received the news in November of 2014 that she had been diagnosed with Leukemia,  I was devastated.  Being the type of person that I am I couldn't sit by and do nothing so I immediately began to brain storm ways to help and decided that the best way to help and embody her lively personality was to host a color walk that would benefit her Chemotherapy treatment.  I had two weeks to plan the walk and I had so much support from my community.  I worked long hours every day and at times struggled to balance between planning the event and keeping up with the rigorous IB curriculum.  The result made it all so worth it.  500 people showed up to the walk and we were able to raise over $1,200.  I was beyond thrilled and touched by the support that my community had shown for me and Emme.  The event taught me so much about balancing and following through on my passions.  It truly taught me that I am capable of so much more than I had ever thought before.

Service and Creativity: Gallery Night 2014

Once again the Westlake Art Societies gallery night came around and I was asked to participate again by donating my artistic skills to the cause through the contribution of a piece of art in the theme of the James Bond movies.  I had been struggling for a while with my pen and ink skills as far as realistic human figures go. Because of this I decided I would use this opportunity to further develop and improve my skills of drawing human faces using pen and ink.  To add a personal touch to the piece I decided to add my usual style of watercolor, dyes and ink in the background and I ended up with a result that was really unique.  I improved my skills of drawing faces and I worked with my art teacher to come up with ideas and to improve my drawing.

Action: Varsity Volleyball 2014

Being a Senior I was excited and sad about starting my final year of Volleyball with my team mates. There were several seniors on the team and we were determined to win state for the first time. This year we were under new coaching that pushed us to new limits, but we had also lost many valuable assets on the team due to seniors graduating in 2013. The practices were rigorous and daunting but we stuck with it and successfully won our district and moved on to the state tournament just as we had the year before. We gave the first game our all but we were not able to come out victorious and ended the tournament with an emotional victory securing us 3rd place in the state. We were disappointed that we were not able to win the championship as we had hoped but we had also gained so much from the season. By pushing ourselves to new limits we had learned about how to become disciplined and to work hard for what you want to achieve. We had also further developed friendships that will last a long time.