3. Tell us about your school. Private? Public? How many in graduating class? Mascots? School colors? I went to a private all girl high school {Notre Dame}. I think this has a lot to do with why my answer is what it is for question one. Throughout the whole school there was probably about 400-450 students, so we graduated with a pretty darn small class, which allowed us to actually know and talk to everyone. Our mascot was the Pegasus, kind of weird but whatevs. Colors were blue & white but come Fall Festival time you see the Freshman wearing green, Sophomores wearing yellow, Juniors wearing red & Seniors all decked out in blue! Fall Festival was & still is a huge deal at ND... it's a competition as to which class can sell the most raffle tickets. Now each class votes for their class "favorite" which is basically just a vote as to whom is the classes favorite person... who is the most well rounded, nice to everyone & just a genuinely good person. The "favorite" of each class is the rep & whichever class wins {by selling the most raffle tickets}, their favorite is Fall Festival Queen... & it's always tradition for Seniors to win this honor, hence the heavy competition... Freshman actually try to beat the Seniors & a couple years they have but it's just supposed to be a fun & light hearted competition, doesn't always end up that way but hey, it's a good time!

4. Tell us about some of your favorite memories of high school. Or what stands out the most? Any teachers? Specific classes? Every year during Fall Festival time, it's just such a sense of community & everyone competing for one good cause {raising money for the school of course lol}. Also just the way our school was set up made for a great learning environment, we didn't have classes all day, it was very college-like... Some days I would have two classes {40 minutes each} and the rest of the day I would have free to do homework, take tests {yeah we had a testing center where we took our tests instead of our class rooms} & just chill out. Other days I would have four or five classes, it just depended on the day... Oh & on Wednesdays? No classes at all, just a day for everyone to catch up, meet with teachers & have club meetings as well as field trips! Not for everyone, but I loved it! {Did I mention we had packets? Basically we would get our whole section of work at once & we could work ahead of the class or stay on pace, if we worked ahead and tested out of a packet before the teacher was done teaching, we didn't have to go to those classes, yet we got the next packet and could work ahead... it was fantastic} Another HUGE deal for all of us girls was our annual Father-Daughter dance, seriously this was probably the best dance of the year & we would all look forward to it! Just a great night out with our dads, dancing and having a good time, no pressure or dates to have to care or worry about.. & Senior year, it was like a mini prom, we got the limo and went all out!

5. Tell us a piece of advice you would pass on to your children or any child entering high school. Don't stress out, I know that's easier said than done but I feel like kids {especially teens} these days just feel like they have to meet certain expectations & when they fail they take it so much harder than they need to. Take a few deep breaths & be yourself, you will get much further and be a way happier person if you just do your best, be yourself and don't try to please anyone but you. I would have to think that most parents out there would want nothing more than their child to try their best and succeed at their own level, not someone else's.