Summer Update

Hey everybody! Hope you all have been enjoying your summer vacation :) I know I certainly have. This summer has certainly been a busy, but extremely enjoyable one. A few days after my last final exam my family started the summer off right with a vacation to California! It was an amazing trip. We visited San Francisco, Big Sur and plenty of other beach towns like Huntington Beach. We ended the trip in Disneyland in Anaheim for a few days! My entire family LOVES Disney and we have been to Disney World several times but Disneyland was a new experience and so much fun! We really lucked out with weather because every day of our vacation was gorgeous. I don't think we ever saw a single rain drop or cloud! I had so much fun in California and loved spending the trip with my family.

Another highlight of my summer is the upcoming Taylor Swift concert I will be attending! I am SO excited for it. I will be going with my 3 best friends who I've known forever. We have been looking forward to this concert for months. We have been listening to her songs nonstop ever since the beginning of the spring. We're also making t-shirts and posters later today. I can't wait to see her in concert!

In between all of the activity, I'm working on my summer reading and all of my summer assignments so I can get them done early. I'm also prepping for the college application process by narrowing down my list of schools to apply to and preparing for the 4 AP courses I will be taking this year. Well, that's all for now. Hope you guys are enjoying your time off and all of the beautiful weather we've been having. I'll update you guys again soon! :)

Hello Summer! :)

Hey everybody! Hope you guys have been having fun while finishing up your school year. I know I have! Over Memorial Day weekend, I went to Washington, D.C. along with 3 other students to represent UC at the Grand National Forensics Tournament. Competition was tough, but the four of us enjoyed each other's company and also got some sightseeing in! Going to the tournament really showed how all of my hard work during the year paid off. I had so much fun and bonded with my fellow teammates and coaches. I also made new friends, as I met people from all over the country, from states like Colorado, California, Iowa and Florida! It was a weekend I will never forget :)

This past Saturday was the graduation of the Class of 2011. They had beautiful weather for it. Their commencement speaker was John Del Giorno, an ABC news reporter and UC alumni. I hear that he did a great job and the ceremony couldn't have gone better. Congratulations to the Class of 2011!

On Monday, the juniors took part in the Junior Rite of Passage. Now that the seniors had graduated, we took part in a prayer service and officially became seniors :). After the prayer service, we had breakfast and enjoyed our first perk as seniors: the courtyard. For those of you that don't know, the courtyard is a senior privilege. We are allowed to eat lunch outside in the courtyard and cut through it to get to class. I must say, I'm really enjoying this already! Especially since the past few days have been bright and sunny! It's so weird going out there though. My friends and I have been wishing to go into the courtyard for three years, but now it's ours! I can't believe that we are already seniors. It feels like it was just a few weeks ago that I was graduating from 8th grade!

Tomorrow, I have my APUS final exam and then I am officially done with the school year! I'm so excited to start my summer, but I'll be sure to update you all on what's going on even when I'm not in school! For all of the eighth graders that are graduating, congratulations! And I look forward to seeing you all next year as fellow UC Vikings! Enjoy your summer! B)

Amazing May!

Hi everyone! The past 2 weeks have been full of activities here at UC, and it's been tons of fun. Just a little while ago was my Junior Prom. I had such a great time. The juniors had the day off to prepare for prom. After doing my hair, nails, makeup and putting on my dress, I went over to my friend's house to take pictures. There were 6 couples, including me and my date, that took pictures together. Then we went to the prom. The venue was beautiful and we all had a great time as we danced, ate dinner and just had fun. It was a great night and I can't wait for Senior Prom next year!

The following Wednesday, I took my AP english exam. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I think that my teacher did a great job preparing us for the test as I felt very ready when I went into the test. Now just to wait until I get my scores!

And on Friday, I went to Six Flags Great Adventure for my Physics Final. Great Adventure hosts Math and Science days where students can go to the park and put their knowledge to the test in real-life applications. We worked in groups and had to complete a packet about the physics of certain rides. It was so cool using an acceleration meter to measure the G-forces of Rolling Thunder while on the ride! It was such a great day and was actually fun, especially for a final exam.

The year is drawing to a close as we all work on our final projects and preparing for our final exams. I'll keep you updated!

Vikings Forever

Hey everyone! So it is still a shock to me to say that my days here as a Union Catholic student are numbered, with only seven school days left until my final exam projects and senior assessments begin. I will be presenting a Spanish project, writing my own foreign policy, and going to Six Flags this Friday with the physics kids for our final! I really cannot wait to study physics on actual roller coasters. The senior leaders have our Senior Leadership Day next Monday, and the senior class has our academic awards this Thursday. Prom is also about a week away, which means that graduation is not far behind!

I think more and more about it every day and even though I’m excited for my next step in life, I am also afraid. Because of this fear, I have done a great deal of reflecting back on my four years at Union Catholic and to say that I loved and adored all aspects of Union Catholic would be a gross understatement. I will admit, coming into my freshmen year I had some expectations and small hopes for what was to come of my high school career, but I never would have guessed that it would have turned into what I experienced and look back on today.

During my reflecting, I really thought about what Union Catholic as a whole does for the person and what it has done for me. Union Catholic truly became my home away from home. I, in all honestly, would not be the person I am today without Union Catholic. If it wasn’t for UC, I would not have such a strong faith as I do now, and I wouldn’t be a Eucharistic Minister for almost three years at my parish of St. Helen’s in Westfield. Also, I wouldn’t be continuing my schooling at a religious affiliated school for college. If it wasn’t for Union Catholic’s great core classes and wide range of electives, I wouldn’t feel nearly as intellectually well-rounded and I wouldn’t be dreaming of going on to medical school. If it wasn’t for Union Catholic forensics, I wouldn’t have a level of self-confidence that I never thought existed. Union Catholic has truly taught me how to live my life in a healthy and beneficial way. I feel so lucky and honored to have been given the opportunity to take part in the activities that I have, such as being a Student Ambassador and reaching out to others, taking part in clubs such as REACH and helping a sick child almost every month, being a student blogger for four years and give you readers a piece of my experiences, and taking part in sports and rising to be a leader. Union Catholic has taught me how to be a leader, a team player, and to never quit. For example, this year I was really struggling with one of my courses but my teachers and fellow students never gave up on me or let me give up on myself and I, in turn, never gave up on myself. I have developed such deep relationships with students, trusted relationships with teachers and even some of the administration on some level. Union Catholic taught me how to open up to new things and accept change, because change can be a great thing. Union Catholic strengthened everything about me: my drive to learn, my push to succeed, and my need to grow. I never stopped working because no teacher ever stopped pushing. My hard work felt so good when I was inducted into the National Honors Society and the World Language Honors Society my junior year. I felt that I made my school proud.

Union Catholic is a family in so many ways. We look after each other; we grow together; we learn together. Most importantly, we encourage each other. It is truly a great feeling when your vice principal congratulates you individually for a win at a recent forensics meet. Looking back on it all now, I know I will forever remember Mrs. Leegan doing a cartwheel in front of her World Studies class of freshmen, starting and counting in most golf matches as a freshman, being in the senior courtyard for the first time. I know I will never be able to thank Union Catholic enough for what it has done for me. Leaving this school will be a very sad day, knowing I am leaving so much of who I am behind; but I know I am prepared for the future. I can walk onto the Loyola University Maryland campus with a head held high, knowing I will always have a family at Union Catholic to come home to. I am a Viking, and I will bleed blue forever.

AP exams

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a nice, relaxing Easter break with your families! I know I did. But now it's back to school to make it through the last few weeks of the year. Over the next two weeks, students will be taking AP exams. For those of you that do not know, AP (or Advanced Placement) are courses that give students the opportunity to earn college credits before even graduating high school. The tests are about 3 hours long and test your knowledge in the particular subject. This year, I am taking the AP English Language and Composition exam. I hope to do well enough to earn college credit so that perhaps I can fulfill some required English courses or electives necessary in college. It will definitely make my class load easier in my first years. Wish me luck and I will tell how it went next week! :)

Spring Musical

Hi everybody! Hope everyone enjoyed the nice weather yesterday! I couldn't believe that I was wearing flip-flops already! I can't believe how close we are to the end of the year. But with the end of the year comes a lot of events at UC. This past weekend was the Spring Musical. PAC put on The Drowsy Chaperone. I always look forward to the plays; PAC does a great job with all of their productions. And as always, I was not disappointed. I laughed hysterically throughout the whole play! It was a great night out to see the play and to hang out with my friends. If you didn't have a chance to see it, you should definitely come see it this Friday or Saturday at 7 PM. You won't regret it. :)

Spring Break starts next Thursday :). I'm so excited to have some time off to relax, especially since right after we come back, AP exams start. And I'm also taking my Physics final at Six Flags Great Adventure! But I'll tell you more about that next time! Enjoy your break!

Spring is Here!

Hey everyone! It's Annie again. Spring is finally here, even though the weather still isn't exactly Spring-like. But soon enough, the weather will be beautiful :). With spring brings a lot of exciting things happening at UC.

Just a little while ago, we had our final Forensics meet of the year. It was a great meet, because UC actually hosted it. It was also a little sad, because for many seniors, it was the last time they would be competing with us. So knowing this, we all went out and did our best to end the year on a great note. And we did just that. Three of our duos made it to finals and placed 6th, 4th and 3rd. I placed 4th in my category, and Katie placed 1st in Declamation! At the end of the meet, the results for Nationals were announced. For nationals, all of your placings for the year are given points and the top 6 people in each category qualify for the National Tournament, being held in Washington, D.C. this year. I qualified in my category! So did Katie, for declamation, and Jonathan and Brandon for Duo. All of our work throughout the year paid off, and now we will have a great weekend over Memorial Day.

Just yesterday was another exciting day at UC. During the day, we had the Pep Rally for spring sports. It was full of lots of games and activities. After school was SMAC's annual Quarters for Cancer dinner. How it works is that for each quarter you pay, you get a scoop of food. I helped serve food yesterday. It's a great fundraiser with all of the money going to the Relay for Life later in the year. It was a huge success last night with a great turnout and an amazing time.

Right after the dinner was the annual Mr. UC pageant. Basically, it's like a beauty pagaent for the senior boys. There's a group dance, formal wear, trivia and talents. Every year, the talents get better and better. This year's highlights included someone dancing in a tutu and an original poem about UC. It's a lot of fun and is also a fundraiser for the school. If you are an incoming freshman, this is definitely something to look forward too! I've been looking forward to it since the beginning of the year! And Congratulations to Danny, this year's Mr. UC!

Well, that's all for now. I'll talk to you later!

Locked-In!

Hey guys! So the lock-in for the Class of 2015 was on Friday, and it was a ton of fun! The incoming freshman arrived starting at 7 o'clock and the activities started as soon as they got there. There were lots of games and activities, like Bingo, Kickball, and UC trivia. Even the current students learned a few new things from the trivia! The incoming freshman had a lot of fun and we saw a lot of people smiling and laughing during the night. It was a great night.

The next day, I took my SATs. They weren't as bad as everyone says they were. Everyone expected it to be much worse. So cross your fingers that all went well! :)

Hola!

Hi everyone! So much has been happening in UC lately that it's hard to keep up! Last Wednesday was the World Language Honor Society Induction. The three languages offered at UC, French, Italian and Spanish, all had students that were nominated to be inducted into their respective Honor Society. Each language made a presentation during the ceremony. French sang a song from "Les Miserables" and Italian sang a popular song from Italy. My class, Spanish, sang "Rie y Llora" by Celia Cruz. My class had so much fun with the song. We practiced and memorized the lyrics for weeks before the ceremony. We even came up with a dance to go along with it! We were all nervous to get up in front of our teachers, families and friends, especially since we were singing in another language! But when the time came, we all had fun with it and did an amazing job. All of the languages had impressive displays of their skills (even though I am biased towards Spanish :) ). It was a fun night and it made me excited to continue my study of Spanish next year.

Well that's all for now! Friday is the Lock-in. I think I'm getting just as excited as the incoming freshmen! It's a great night full of fun and meeting new people. I'll tell you about it next week!

Looking to the Future

Hi everyone! It's Annie again. This past weekend, the forensics team had another meet, this time a local one. One of our duos, Brandon and Jonathan, placed 3rd! A junior, Tim, placed 5th in Oral Interpretation. My fellow blogger, Megan, and her partner Sean placed 5th in Public Forum. And two of our Lincoln-Douglas debators placed! It was a good meet for UC.

Yesterday, I began my college search when I had a meeting with my parents and my guidance counselor. We sat down together and had a long talk about what I wanted to major in, what schools I was interested in, and SAT scores. He also gave me a list of colleges that I might want to look into. The meeting made me realize that college isn't all that far away. Senior year will be here before I know it. I'm scared to begin my college search, but I know that I have a great support system, both inside and outside of UC.

Senior Year Ending Already?!

Hey everyone! So the last time we talked, it was the middle of the summer. So much has changed since then! Currently, I am beginning the end of senior year and it is truly scary how fast time has flown. Already, March 5^th starts the beginning of the spring sports season and I am so excited for golf! I’m a captain this year, it being my fourth year. Also, prom is right around the corner.

At this point in the year, not only have I applied to college, but I have received responses as well. I applied to eight schools, and have been accepted into four so far: Quinnipiac in Connecticut, Loyola in Maryland, St. Joe’s in Philadelphia, and TCNJ in New Jersey. On March 1^st, I’m actually going to visit TCNJ. I never would have thought I’d still be visiting schools this late in the year! Within the next month, I’m expecting to hear from Sacred Heart, the College of the Holy Cross, Muhlenberg College, and Villanova. I really would like to be accepted into Villanova and Holy Cross; fingers crossed!

Throughout the year, I have been debating on the forensics team for my second year and am debate team captain. This year, my partner and I have been pretty successful. Two weeks ago, the forensics team attended a weekend-long competition at University of Pennsylvania. And just this past Saturday, we attended the monthly meet. At this meet, my partner Sean and I placed 5^th out of 24, receiving points towards the National competition. We were so excited because we beat two of the best teams in the league, losing only once to the number one team in the nation. Our next and last meet ever is in three weeks, and we plan to go out with a bang!

I have been thinking lately how much I am truly going to miss Union Catholic and the family that I have made here. In my college search, I have looked for characteristics in colleges that I found here at UC. I’m sad for leaving, but am excited to take my next step into the world. The next few months are going to come and go so fast, but I know we will all be ready for what is to come.

Busy Busy Busy

Hi I hope everyone is doing well. Sorry about not blogging, I have been so busy. Senior year by far has been the toughest and busiest year. I am finally done with all college applications. I have gotten into five out of six schools that I applied to; I am just waiting to hear from Northeastern. It's so nice to be able to sit back and relax after an intense four years of high school. My number one choice is still Emerson and I am still planning on playing softball there. A month ago I went to the accepted students' event and I fell in love with the school all over again. I have to commit soon, so hopefully I end up at my number one choice!

So much has been going on:

The other day we had a Senior Breakfast. Less than 111 days until graduation, I can't believe it!

Our Student Council president was accepted into the Naval Academy, which only accepts 14% of their applicants.

A senior on the boys' basketball team scored his 1000th point the other night. He is the first one to accomplish this achievement since 1993!

Mr. UC practice has started early this year because of Easter being so late. The senior boys are busy practicing their talents for this big night.

I had my last honor roll breakfast a couple of weeks ago; I'm going to miss UC's donuts.

Sophomore day of Recollection was yesterday and I gave a speech on change.

The Senior Retreat is this weekend; seniors have their suitcases all packed.

Spring sports season is just around the corner.

The Prophet, UC's newspaper that I write for has come out with their February issue.

And lastly, the Lock-In is coming up; UC hopes to see you all there!

UC has been so busy and our schedule is only getting busier with graduation less than 3 months away!

New Blogger :)

Hi everybody! My name is Annie and I'm the newest blogger to join Girl Talk :). I'm a junior here at UC and am a Student Ambassador, Big Sister, part of the Academic Team, Forensics Team, National Honor Society, and R.E.A.C.H. (Raising Educated Awareness for the Causes of HIV/AIDS). I am also in the Distinguished Scholars Program, taking Accelerated and AP classes this year. I'm really excited to be blogging and to let you all get a look at my life here at UC.

This past weekend, I went with the Forensics team to a tournament at UPENN. For those of you that do not know, Forensics is public speaking. It's made up of several catergories, including both speech and debate events. We left Friday right after school. Saturday was an early morning for our team and we started to compete at 9 AM. We finished around 7 that night. After going back to the hotel, I found out that I had made it to the semi-final round! I was surprised, since it was a national tournament. I met people from schools as far away as Orlando and Colorado!

I compete in Original Oratory, which is an event where you write and memorize your own speech. We returned to campus Sunday morning, where I competed in my semi-final round. It was a really hard round, so I was even more shocked when I found out that I made it to the final round (the top 6). In the end, I placed 3rd! It was a great experience for me and it was nice to see all of my work pay off. I know that the entire team enjoyed their weekend and enjoyed the experience. I enjoyed the long the weekend, but now it's time to go back to school! Talk to you all next week!

Last week I had the chance to fall in love with Emerson College. I went for my official visit Thursday to Friday and did not want to come home! Thursday morning I woke up and went for a four hour car ride to Boston. Once there I met with the coach and went to one of the softball players dorm. After talking to the girls I got to sit in on a college class. I was not ready for an hour and 45 minute class! It's so different from high school. After class I got to eat dinner in the cafeteria with the team. The food was so good! After dinner I had to go watch the team lift weights for 2 hours! From 9pm to 11pm. I was with other recruits for next years class, so we attempted to discover Boston on our own instead of waiting for 2 hours. Boston is such a beautiful but big city. After lifting weights, I went to one of the softball players room and got to meet other people at Emerson. Everyone was so enthusiastic and I really got a great feel for the school. The next day I met with admissions and talked about the application process then finished my day with lunch with the upperclassmen. The whole atmosphere was amazing and I really liked college for a day (:

But back in High School a lot is going on with Union Catholic. Last week we had our 8th grade day of Recollection. The 8th graders really enjoyed the day as they heard stories from our upperclassmen. The day started with name tags being filled out including an adjective that best describes the 8th grader. My favorite activity for the 8th graders is for people who put that they are "crazy" as their adjective. These kids have to peel open a banana and eat it after it is passed up and down a row full of their peers. Other activities include People who are loud had to scream into a microphone and people who are athletic had to shoot a basketball. This was a great day for the 8th graders and they got to bond with their class.

Up next is the Senior Day of Recollection and Welcome Back Dance. Union Catholic is so busy!