My Life

It's like Bill Clinton's book, but more awesome.

I was born. My parents named me Samantha. It was all pretty exciting from then on, but to save time, we’re going to focus on high school, the past three and a half years. Freshman year was okay. Notable events included writing my first novel (no, you cannot read it, yes, it was terrible) and joining the quiz bowl team. Even though I joined it on something of a bet or dare, quiz bowl has been a really great experience all through school. I’ve met a lot of friends through it and will miss it when I’m gone. I also participated in debate and freshman/sophomore play, which really enriched my experience.
On to sophomore year! It too, was okay. I wrote another novel, this one not quite as terrible (although I’m not really sure what it was about) and blogged some more. I took AP Euro, which was a totally amazing class, and, for the first time, I was in a class that I liked,* but was not particularly successful in. That year, I also participated in quiz bowl, debate, and freshman/sophomore play. I got my driver’s license too, which was exciting. That summer, I became a counselor at the summer camp where I’ve gone for years. It was, in short, fantastic. I also remember writing something of significant length that was post-apocalyptic, although I’m not sure what the circumstances of the apocalypse were. Then I, like so many others, became a junior.
Junior year was a little different in that suddenly, college was a big, eminent issue for me. I would have to decide right this minute what I was going to do with my life and if I didn’t, I would die sad and alone and my internet connection would be cut off and everything would be horrible. I kind of knew that all I really wanted to do was sit in my room and write all day, but writing silly novels and blog posts isn’t really a career. Then, about three weeks into the school year, I tested out of World History. This wasn’t really a big deal, but it allowed me to switch into Art II, which Mr.Boyer taught. One day, he asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I was caught off-guard and sputtered out something about history. I like buildings too, so I turned to historic restoration. In essence, I wanted to buy up a bunch of historic buildings, restore them, and then bask in their awesomeness all day long. Then I decided that I didn’t really want to do that any more. Instead, I wanted to be an architect. Woohoo architecture, right? Erm…maybe. Or maybe what I wanted to do was design furniture. Actually, I probably did want to design furniture. Not woodworking, but design. The differentiation is important. To pursue that, I began taking figure drawing classes, which were pretty interesting. That summer, I counseled at camp again, and I might have written some short stories.
Senior year came crashing into my life, leaving me shocked and ill-prepared. College! College! College! I settled on applying to three art schools, and also applied to Lawrence Tech on a whim, because it was free and had one of four architecture programs in the state. Clearly, I am a master of research and planning. Anyway, I continued into my senior year, my first without an art class, with some trepidation. Would I be able to handle two AP classes at once? Was I really good enough for Lit, having taken regular English for the two previous years? Would I be the only senior in my Health class? Would I be able to stand the humiliation and pain of gym? Would I be able to memorize the location and capital of every country in the world for International Relations? Most importantly, would I be able to sing “Under the Sea” in French?** It was tough, and it was a real journey for me, but somehow, I survived the first semester of my senior year and ended up here, in Finance.

*Comma abuse has been a constant struggle for me. It’s hard, but with hard work, and perseverance, I think I can overcome it.
**Yes. Yes. No, surprisingly. Yes, it wasn’t that bad. No. Yes, that was a test in French V.