I'm an editor on my school's yearbook staff. Part of my job in the class is to go around campus and take pictures to document the events of the year. This year my school did something new after sophomores took the pre-ACT, they had a Student Success Celebration. In short, it was a high school-level field day. There were inflatable obstacle courses, basketball, axe throwing, snowcones, corn-hole, and other small competitions. It was a great event to take pictures at because there were so many things to do and so many kids were having a blast. In the portfolio, every picture is one I took that day at the celebration. The first picture showcases a senior student racing her favorite teacher on the obstacle course. She got so far ahead that you can't even tell she was racing anyone. The second picture showcases a challenge made by the FFA, a hay bale throwing competition. Students competed to see who could throw a hay bale the furthest. The third image shows two brothers who had a tight race on the obstacle course. They threw themselves down the slide at the end to try to win the race because it was so tight. The final image I submitted shows a student trying his luck at the punching bag game. I chose all those images together because they showcase the unity that comes from having fun. When everyone is having fun no one cares what you look like or how "popular" you are. I think by using the images I did you can easily see that in practice in a really simple way.

I don't know about you but I'm feeling 2024. If my year had a soundtrack it would have Bad Blood from 1989. Bad Blood is about all the crap Ms. Taylor Allison Swift had to go through with Kanye West. Taylor felt Kanye had betrayed her when she thought they had worked out their differences from the VMAs. This song would make it to my soundtrack because of similar feelings I have had this year coming from people who I considered close friends at one point. "You say sorry just for show" encompasses how I felt during the year from those "friends" who I thought I could trust. Another song that would easily make it into my soundtrack is Out of the Woods. Not necessarily because I have a guy but because of some of the lyrics in the song. "To move the furniture so we could dance." I have a friend I haven't seen in a while because she moved away; this line makes me think of her. During school, we would eat lunch in the Yearbook teacher's room, and for about two months straight we’d move the tables and chairs out of the way to learn new line dances. Another classic lyric from the song that makes me love this pick for a soundtrack is the line "Are we out of the woods yet?" The repetition of that line makes you feel the desperation Taylor was feeling when she was writing the song. Constantly wondering if the danger is over and if we are in the clear for certain friendships is something that felt like it took up most of my year. Is It Over Now would be the third song I'd place on the soundtrack of my year. College applications are stressful and feel like they take forever to complete. I've asked myself "Is it over yet?" multiple times due to how stressed I've felt about the process. "300 takeout coffees later" sums up the Dr. Pepper addiction I've seemed to have gotten while working on college-related things. Another reason this song would make it to the soundtrack is because I simply love this song. I have screamed this song in my car multiple times lately due to how catchy it is. I love listening to it, enough that I attempted to learn a TikTok dance that came out to this song. Unfortunately, I was not very successful in learning the dance but that was okay because I learned all the lyrics to the song instead. Ultimately, I would pick every song from 1989 for a soundtrack of my life but if I had to narrow it down Bad Blood, Out of the Woods, and Is It Over Now would be my top picks.