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About Me�!According to my mother, I am “a forty-five year old women in the body of a

seventeen-year-old. “"!I don’t disagree with this statement at all."!My favorite things to do are browse Pinterest to find new home decorating ideas

(for when I finally have my own tiny house by the beach), read books that I find in “hipster” bookstores with shelves of typewriters and $1 books, play guitar and paint. I spend too much time with my nose in a book, and my favorite candy is butterscotch (which is surprisingly difficult to find. Not even Target has it). "

!My music taste centers mostly around indie rock. That fun, electric, “new sound” that I just can’t get enough of is everywhere I go--I’ve got my favorite station programed into my car, and my room is always tinged with a faint whisper of guitars and cajons, radiating from a tiny speaker in the corner. "

!I have a strange idea of what is considered “gross”. My favorite Twitter account is InjuryPictures (a collection of grotesque images of various sports injuries), but I cannot watch my boyfriend kill a moth without cringing. "

!I love my job--I work with little kids, teaching them how to do art. We do a cute little project every week, and they can always put a smile on my face, no matter how much of a struggle the day has been. The kids always have a bad joke to tell, or an “important” story about their day, and it’s nice to forget about my problems and listen to those of a five-year-old (most of which involve major drama at recess earlier that day). "

!I’ve found that I’ve changed a lot throughout high school. No longer am I the quiet girl with glasses that no one recognizes, I am now Anna Minard, the girl with bangs who can get up in front of a crowd and sing, and perform, and insist upon everyone’s attention. My music classes and friend group have instilled a new confidence in me, and I don’t worry about big class presentations anymore (If I can sing in front of a crowd then I can definitely talk to twenty peers about a topic), and while walking out to the parking lot I wave to everyone I know--people I’ve known since freshman year, friends I made this year, people who didn’t know I existed until a year ago. It wasn’t until recently that I was finally confident in my own skin, and began to develop my own opinions on important topics. "

The Book That Changed My Life���

!Harbor is a book originally written in Swedish, but the version I read was in English (I don’t know Swedish). It involves a lot of Swedish mythology and discusses the idea of the ocean as a personified being that takes sacrifices from the Island of Domarö, and forced me to really analyze the way I think about the sea, and what happens to people when they die."

!In the book, Anders and Cecilia take their six-year-old daughter Maja snow-skiing to the Gåvasten Lighthouse. They allow her to go ahead of them (she’s wearing a bright red snowsuit--easy to see on the snow) and the three explore the lighthouse. At the top, Maja points to something out in the middle of the water, but only she can see it; Anders and Cecilia cannot. Later, Maja disappears, leaving not a single footprint in the snow. Maja isn't found, and eventually Anders and Cecilia divorce."

!Anders leaves the island after the divorce, but finally feels compelled to return to the island where he grew up. Upon his arrival, a number of strange occurrences begin to take place--houses burn down, Hubba and Bubba return from their disappearance 10 years earlier (without having aged), and Ander’s house seems possessed by his daughter’s spirit. By the end of the novel, we realize that the sea has possessed Elin, Hubba and Bubba, as well as Maja, and that the sea demands a sacrifice in order to remain peaceful. "

!This book really affected the way I think about the sea--as a boat captain’s daughter, I’ve always had a close relationship with the ocean, and was always taught to respect the sea. “Never turn your back on the water,”has been a common saying in the family since the first boat was purchased by my great-grandfather on the Great Lakes. "

!The book also affected the way I think about family. Anders never leaves his daughter behind, even when he thinks he may never see her again. Despite Maja’s maniacal tendencies (which are supposedly the reason the sea took her as a sacrifice), Anders still loves Maja, and does his best to bring her home. I realized that family isn’t something you can leave behind; they’re with you whether you want them or not. "

!Harbor affected the way I think about a lot of important topics, and the added horror element the book has makes it one of my favorite books. "

Freshman Year���“Master the art of observing”

“How strange it is to be anything at all.”

Freshman Year���!In freshman year, I was a very different person that I am now. My first

year in high school was a strange transition--I had a strong aversion to change. I was able to stay close with the same friend group that I had built in elementary and middle school, but I was reluctant to make new friends. I tried not to draw attention to myself, constantly worried that I would say the wrong thing, or make a fool of myself. I sped to each next class, anxious to find out what was going to happen that day--I was very fond of routine, and not knowing what to expect made me more anxious than anything. "

!My emotional state in freshman year is illustrated in my writing. I was scared to jump from the writing style I had developed in middle school to a more sophisticated style more reflective of a high school writer. I had no independent voice, and stuck to rubrics and examples as closely as I would. I’ve chosen to include to writing pieces to reflect this stage in my writing career: the essay I wrote for Night, by Elie Wiesel, and the essay written for Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare. Neither piece has a distinguishable voice, and each almost mirrors the examples we looked at in class. ""

Sophomore Year���“That’s who you really like. The people you can think out loud in front of.”      

“Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.” --Booker T. Washington

Sophomore Year���!In sophomore year, I finally began to develop my own identity.

I no longer clung to the past version of things, I went out and made new friends and had new experiences. I also began to discover that I had an opinion on a lot of things--religion, people, relationships--and I finally began to take a solid stance on everything except politics (even now I have no idea what to think about any political idea, I just feel like politicians need to stop arguing and blaming each other). I figured out what my religious ideals were. Previously, I had no opinion on religion--I had never gone to church or had any religious training--and my mother’s wise words regarding our religion were: “We’ll just scrape by with our good values.” But sophomore year, I realized that even if there was a God like all my friends talked about, I didn’t believe everything they talked about. I didn’t think God intervened if you prayed hard enough, or that you would go to heaven when you die. I found this out with the help of my friends, and I finally developed my own opinion on a lot of things. "

!The piece I included for sophomore year is the “I believe” essay, written in Mrs. Johnson’s Honors English class. It’s the first essay of my high school career in which you can see a voice starting to emerge; while it is a pessimistic, borderline vicious voice, it’s still present. I wrote that “I believe there is no such as miracles because there is a scientific explanation for everything.” It’s a stance I still stand by today, and the essay illustrates my growth as a writer from one year to the next. ""

Junior Year���: “Sometimes we’re tested. Not to show our weaknesses, but to discover our strengths”

Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.

Junior Year���!Junior year was simultaneously the best and worst year of

my high school career. My classes were terrible--too many AP’s and not enough time--and I tried to do way more than the average high schooler should ever have to do. I had three AP classes, a sport, and a job, and tried to balance it all. Because of this, the stress really got to me, and my generalized anxiety disorder raised its ugly head again. There were days when I had to skip school because the thought of going back for another day was so stressful and horrifying I’d just break down, unable to calm down enough to make it to class. Eventually, I cut back on the amount of things I was trying to juggle, and no longer felt a knot of anxiety every time I left my car in the morning. That definitely made junior year a struggle, but there were some great highlights of the year as well: Best times at swim meets, a new confidence in myself that I applied to my guitar playing/performances and art, and my first romantic relationship with a lovely gentleman I’m still with now. "

!To reflect Junior Year, I chose two pieces from Mrs. Hillesland’s AP Language class. “Should Huck Finn Be Taught?” and “Organ Transplant Policy May Change” illustrate the state I was in during junior year. My writing seems rushed and hurried, although I was more daring with my voice. I know for a fact that the Organ Transplant essay was written at 2 in the morning, during a caffeine-induced frenzy of productivity as I tried to get as much done as possible. The essays turned out just fine though--just like junior year. ""

Senior Year���“Maybe it’s sad that these are now memories. And maybe, it’s not sad.”

“The creative adult is the child who survived.”

Senior Year���!Senior Year was the best year of high school. Not

only was I in a happy relationship, I had a new confidence I hadn’t had when high school began, and it showed. My guitar performances were stellar, I helped organize an Open Mic Night for teens at The Art Center, my art reached levels it hadn’t before, and my friend group--while small and relatively limited--was people I strongly cared for. I had a plan for what I would do when high school ended, and I was excited about the future. "

!My writing piece that I chose for this year was the final research essay. I combined all the skills I had learned from freshman year Beginning Composition to AP Literature, and wrote an essay that I was proud of. I was confident in my skills, and my time-management applications prevented me from getting too stressed. " ""

High School Reflection���!High School was overall a positive experience for me. Freshman year

was nothing but me trying to find my place in the world and now, as a senior, I feel like I know who I am and what I stand for. I’ve learned the importance of friends and relationships, my family, and that any minor problem can be solved with a hug and conversation. High School helped me become more confident in myself and my opinions, and I now know that I can handle just about anything life wants to throw at me, from car accidents to friend dramas to questionable decisions I (or anyone else) make. I found the importance of creativity in my life, be it through song or paint, and that a cup of tea can be more calming than anything else. "

!I think skills I learned in high school will carry into my adult life as well. I learned how to work in a group, even with people you don’t like, and how to juggle too many things at once. I learned that there is more to people than what you see on the outside, and it’s okay to not stand out in a crowd, as long as you’re happy with yourself. Overall, high school helped me develop into the person I am today, and I think I’m prepared for my life beyond high school. ""