After four years of attending Bowie, I am anxious about leaving. I will miss seeing all of my friends and eating in the courtyard everyday at lunch. I will miss going to theatre workdays and seeing the shows come together. I will miss those awkward smiles exchanged between friends while walking opposite ways in the hallway.

I will always remember the time I spent working on technical theatre for the Starlight Theatre Company. I met almost all of my friends through tech theater, and it helped me become who I am today. My favorite memories from high school were working on the school musicals each year. Specifically, my favorite experience in tech was the musical Mamma Mia that was produced during my sophomore year. I remember between shows one day all of the tech theatre people decided to put on our own version of the musical and it was so much fun. Additionally from my time at the Starlight Theatre Company, I was able to take a class with my favorite teacher from high school: Mrs. Huerta. She really helped me further my skills and knowledge of the artistic side of technical theatre and I continued this throughout the years.

As I took Mrs. Huerta’s course as a freshman, it was great to be in a class with people of similar interests as me since I was a new student. If I could tell all the freshmen one thing, it would be not to compare yourself to others. I would often find myself seeing the accomplishments of other people and being envious. I have now realized that everyone is entirely different, and no two people will have the same experience. I was not at the top of my class, I didn’t get straight A’s, and I only had like five friends, but I still loved my time in high school. I would also say always to be kind as the world could always use more nice people.

Next year, I plan to stay close to home and take classes through the Austin Community College in order to save money before I begin attending a four-year university. I’m grateful for my time at Bowie for giving me friends, knowledge, and preparing me for the next years of my life.