As I discussed yesterday, I had graduation, but there was one portion of graduation that I didn't really mention anywhere in that post. Well, two portions, but they go together, so that's why I didn't mention either of them initially.
Yesterday proved to be, honestly, one of the proudest days of my life. My best friend, Megan, went up, faced her fears, and gave a speech to the entire community as our Salutatorian. She absolutely hates public speaking, like a lot, and she mentions it in her speech, which I share just down below, but she did perfect. She could not have done a better job, and I honestly can't even find the words to say how proud I am of her. I think that says enough though...the fact that I'm speechless.
Here's Megan's amazing speech from our graduation:
Now, did you catch the Disney reference? I didn't the first time I read it, but it's another reason I'm so proud. I mean, to go around speaking "Disney" all day long is another thing, but she honestly put in a Disney reference without even knowing it. That's pretty awesome if you ask me. And if you didn't catch what it was, my hat says it all...
Congratulations Megan, you were amazing yesterday, and I am absolutely proud of you, and very very lucky to call you my best friend. Now let's go out and have a great big and very beautiful tomorrow!
Here's today's Disney History: 2011: Sadly on this day, Disney Legend Wally Boag passes at the age of 90 in California. Born in Oregon in September 1920, Boag became an important part of Disneyland's live entertainment in 1955 when he became a leading man at the park's Golden Horseshoe Revue. As Pecos Bill, he entertained Disneyland park guests five days a week, three times a day, for nearly 7 years. Boag also provided the voice of the Audio-Animatronics parrot, Jose, in the Enchanted Tiki Room.
I'm going to split this blog post into two...meaning that I'm going to write half of it now, save it, and then write half of it later. Why? Before and after graduation.
Right now, with about two and a half hours until the start of our graduation ceremony, it occurs to me that all along, for the last 13 years, this is the day I've been dreading. Unlike most graduates, I never saw the happiness in Graduation. It meant we leave. Yes, we get to go on to bigger and better things, and don't get me wrong: I'm excited for that too, but I leave so much behind. This past year has, without a doubt, been the absolute best year of life. I found myself in a position I was happy with. School didn't seem like work anymore because I loved what I was doing. Isn't that what they say? That work doesn't seem like work if you love what you're doing. Being the president and drum major of the Seymour High School Band was a TON of work...more than I think anyone could have possibly imagined, but I loved what I did. I would walk into band everyday with a smile on my face, and if I didn't, it wouldn't take long for one to appear. The band says they are extremely proud of everything that I have accomplished and they thank me for everything I have done, but honestly, they have made me who I am today, and I am the one who should be doing the thanking. I would not be Lizzie Tesch without them. I wouldn't be ready to go onto my own Adventure in the great wide world of Disney. It just wouldn't happen. Not to say that the rest of the wonderful people who surround me haven't made an impact as well...they have, but it's the band that gave me opportunities and responsibilities and made it possible for me to learn. I didn't think I'd like being Drum Major, but now I can't even imagine what my life will be like without it. I wouldn't of had that if it weren't for the band, and most certainly I wouldn't be going into music next year when I head to college.
As I said in my memoir post, If my life was a movie, I would be standing in that band room slowly turning while the world flew by around me. That's how it feels right now. It feels like the past 13 years have flown by. It's like it was just the other day when my kindergarten class would have nap time, or how in 1st grade we would watch the show "Oswald", which was about an octopus I think, during snack time. Or what about recess, or the end of third grade when I took pictures with all my friends. There was middle school, with the hours spent on projects and studying for tests. And in high school, there were the insane projects, one after another, some by myself, some as a group, but each one a masterpiece in it's own way. And then there was senior year, the beginning of the end, and how every single day I would think about June 2nd, Graduation, and how much I wanted to avoid it because I wasn't ready to leave. I'm still not ready to leave.
But most importantly, it feels like just the other day I played oboe for the first time, or that first time I played in the high school band. And now, here I am, about to play with that group, all of us together, for the last time. I am not ready to leave, but I am not afraid of the future either. It looms, like, as I said in my introduction for Brave at our final concert, like a big and ferocious bear. But if we pursue, everything will work out alright, and we will become everything we want to be.
Graduation is over now, but I think my only real comments on it are this:
I feel much better now that it's over. I honestly don't feel any different, other than the fact that my friends all still go to school while I stay at home...well, until I go in to do some work. Then I just get a visitors pass. That is weird though.
I am incredibly proud of my best friend, Megan, for her speech, but that will be tomorrow's post.
There is a lot of picture taking.
My solo went great, and the band played really well.
Other than that, I can't say that I feel any different or that anything is different. Time is still going too fast, but at the same time, for the moment it's seemed to slow down, although I have to say that today has gone by pretty quickly. I still have a lot of work I want to get done for band, but I enjoy that job, and if there's anything I can do to help, I'm going to do it. =)
Here's today's Disney History: 2011: Disneyland Resort celebrates the opening of The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure with a special ceremony at Disney California Adventure park. Jodi Benson, the original voice of Ariel, performs "Part of Your World," one of the memorable songs from the film's Academy Award-winning score. The attraction opens to the general public June 3.
While most people are in the stage of "I can't wait to graduate!" I'm still stuck in the "I don't want to leave" stage. I think it's largely because I'm happy where I am. I've actually enjoyed school for the first time in many years. There were many days when I couldn't wait to go to bed, just because it would make school come faster. That's a mindset I haven't had in a very long time.
So now, as I sit here in my English classroom, after seniors have technically been dismissed, I realize that I don't necessarily want to leave. I, instead, want to stay. But at the same time, leaving means that summer is beginning, and it means I'm one step closer towards becoming an Imagineer.
The past few days have certainly been interesting, filled with final projects that I have to say are some of my best projects in all of high school. When I go to college, I won't necessarily have the time or opportunities to continue making things like those I've made in the past few days, and that's part of the reason why I spent the last two nights working with very little sleep.
But there are other reasons as to why I worked so hard on my final projects, which, once I catch up with my blog, will be on the previous days that I finished them. My castle, which I created for my College Credit English final, was made because our assignment was to read an independent book, and I read How to Be Like Walt by Jim Denney. In a day or two I'll share my review of the book, but it taught me a lot, both about Walt, of course, and about myself. I put the extra time and effort into the projects not because I wanted praise, but because I knew it would make my teachers smile. It's just like how Walt didn't create Disneyland for people to praise him, but because he knew that the guests visiting would love it and it would make them happy. And my projects did that. Both my Poem Video, Memories, and my Sleeping Beauty Castle, brought smiles to the faces of the teachers that I have looked up to for the past four years. As I explain on the post about my video, I reminded the teacher why he loves teaching, and that was more rewarding than anything else he could have said. I make these things because it's fun to see what I can come up with next, and I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by a group of people who make my dreams become a reality.
But, for now, as I finish out my last day of high school...ever...I know that what I look forward to most is this: sleep. And after that, I can't wait to spend a summer with my friends, to travel back home to Disney World, to prepare for college, and to dream new dreams. Plus, with no homework to do, I have a lot more time to read, write and blog.
There will be plenty of time for the bittersweet thoughts of Graduation, but for now, here's today's Disney History: 1917: John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth United States President, is born in Brookline, Massachusetts. THe youngest elected to office, at the age of 43, events during JFK's administration include the Space Race. One of the 10 wealthiest U.S. Presidents, visit him and all of the U.S. Chief Executives at Disney World's the Hall of Presidents.
Have a magical day and remember to keep moving forward!
Today marked our first day of finals for seniors, which is, honestly a day I've been dreading for the entire school year. Finals means the end...and that means graduation...and that means leaving, and that's terrible. But finals also means that it's my last chance to make a lasting impression on those in the school, and it requires a little backstory.
Throughout high school, I, often times along with my best friend, Megan, have produced a great number of over-the-top projects. We made the Silent Film, The Amazing Chase, which was 8 hours of editing and two days of filming to create what really appears to be a silent film from the 1920's. There was the Les Paul National History Day Project...which is honestly the most stressful project I have ever done, but I'm proud of it none the less. There was our American Bandstand skit...which was just awesome. The Julius Caesar Project and Animal Farm Scrapbook, in which many sophomores still want to hunt us down with pitchforks for. Freshman year, Megan and I dominated in our Public Service Announcements, and our debate was a rift of only one vote between us (she won, but it was still a lot of fun!). And during this final year, while we had less projects, in psychology we were still on top, and our English papers were some to remember!
And so, when it came to my final semester of my senior year, and specifically my final projects, I wanted to keep going. I wanted to create projects that really showcased my hard work.
Now, it gives me great pleasure to share with you the first of my two final projects (The other will be in a blog post this Thursday), Memories. For my final in Creative Writing, we had three parts. First, the memoir I discussed on Sunday, second, a short story we wrote, and finally a collection of three poems. Earlier in the semester we had to write a total of ten poems, but for the final we were instructed to edit and digitally produce three of these poems to present to the class. It wasn't hard to decide on three poems: One I wrote on the Gettysburg Address, another on Google Chrome (Oh, I love thee!), and the last on my memories of Disney World.
But when it came to how to digitally produce each one, it took me quite a while to decide. The first two I created using Animoto, but the Disney one, I wanted to make that one special. My teacher, who I am absolutely and completely lucky to have as a teacher, hadn't seen some of my other projects. Megan and I didn't take the advanced English course our Freshman year, which he taught, due to some interesting circumstances, so I never had him up until creative writing this year, which I took both to have him as a teacher and because the class sounded like a great class for me to take. I spent most of Saturday attempting to figure out what to make for this Disney video, and came up with nothing. So on Sunday, when I was on my computer trying to figure out what music to use....it hit me. Stop motion and the tilt shift video.
If you have read my blog for a while, I have a series of posts on Disney inspired Youtube videos. The first videos I shared were the Disney Parks tilt shift videos for Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Each features a great soundtrack with music I love, and the music from the MK video was perfect for what I wanted to do. So I jumped in my car and went to shopko, picked up a big white board, came back and had my dad set up the camera and lights and went to work on my video.
Here is the finished project:
When it came to presenting it in class, I was a little nervous. My Creative Writing class is filled with a lot of really inappropriate people, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of them even politely asked me about how I made it and said honestly that they liked it. But it was the comments from my teacher that made it worthwhile.
Back in January, during my last finals, a teacher said to me "I don't think it's childish," five small words about my love of Disney that really meant a lot to me. This time around there were more words, but there are few that really stood out. I won't share them all here, but one was that it was projects like this and people like me that remind him why he loves teaching.
It sounds really strange, but I honestly don't like it when people lavish praise on me, and as I read How to Be Like Walt, it came to my attention that Walt was the same way. He didn't like to have all kinds of praise. He just loved what he was doing. He wanted to make people happy, and as I look back on all my projects in high school, I feel the same way. If I can bring a smile to someones face, often times the teacher, then my job is done. I have accomplished what I set out to do. It's things like reminding them why they love teaching that makes me want to do what I do, and that's hopefully something that will never ever change.
But along with that, this project opened my eyes to a few more things. It reminded me why I love Disney. It gave me a chance to reflect on why I personally love the company, and it brought me closer to home. It reminded me why I want to become a Disney Employee. And most of all, Memories sums up everything I have done so far, and it lays the foundation for what I want to achieve in the future.
Here's today's Disney History: 1994: Disney's Wilderness Lodge opens at Walt Disney World. The 728-room lakeside deluxe resort (inspired by the beautiful early American National Parks) features an 80-foot tall fireplace in its lobby. Only a mile away from the Magic Kingdom, the resort is surrounded by 56 acres of oak and pine trees and includes and artificial geyser and hot springs.
