My senior year has already brought me opportunities that I wouldn’t have believed were possible. In a few short weeks I have been asked to do things that I feel will really help me build my portfolio as I prepare to head off to college to study graphic design.

I’ve been asked to design things before, outside of school projects, for neighbors and friends. I’ve designed stickers, t-shirts, and two years ago in a class competition, my design won as an apple butter label for Dr. Mees and his family.

This year I was asked to do some work on an ad in our paper, to help out our ads manager Michael McHale, who has been drowning in paperwork and homework.

I was also given the privilege of designing the pages for the Opinion Section of the Bell, which I jumped on immediately. It’s not something I’ve ever gotten to do before and I put a lot of thought into the ideas I created.

My most exciting project of my senior year by far has been designing a poster about the academic expectations that come with the Macs. Ms. Morris handed down the task to me after Dr. Adams contacted her for her help. I have worked furiously to put forth my best work as a final product. I was thrown into figuring out how to use the program Illustrator more effectively. Each design I made taught me how to more easily and efficiently use the program, as well as new tricks I had never thought of.

The few, short, first weeks of my senior year have been action packed and busy with new and interesting projects with problems I have never encountered before. I’m excited to see what other challenges and opportunities my senior year will bring me.