It’s finally over! The ungodly final is finished. It went through so many obstacles and changes, I thought it would never be done in time. My teachers in American Studies must thrive on our stress.
The final is about the past four hundred years of American history, rolled into twenty-five important American people, places, literature, and events, cleverly nicknamed APPLEs. And yes, the entire class laughed at the absurdity when we heard this, too. We all thought, “Back to kindergarten we go!” Bullcrap. This has been one of the longest, hardest projects I’ve ever done.
It was encouraged that we pick a narrowed topic to trace through the four centuries. Some picked medicine, others picked travel, etc. I picked the topic I know best: war. Did it ever occur to anyone how much war has affected out country? And not just the soldiers dying and other direct repercussions, but the indirect effects as well. In World War II, women took over jobs for the soldiers abroad. It was the first chance they had to be in the workforce, and they proved they could do the job just as well as any man. It started the whole women’s rights movement. From war. It’s amazing how much its affected us.
Now, I didn’t want to do another speech anytime soon, so I decided to do a big mural with soldiers marching across the canvas from left to right, with their uniforms changing as time went on, bridging the Revolutionary War to the Iraq War today.
Unfortunately, this project would easily take me a month to do. I had two weeks. So I morphed it into a storybook. It has the information about each APPLE, and a picture to go along with it. I could do this in two weeks. The timing would be tight, but I knew I could do it.
Once again, bullcrap. My computer had other ideas. The night before it was due, I was working until ten o’clock putting the final details on the writing part. I went to save it, and my computer deleted it. Completely. Everything else was completely fine, but my storybook was gone. I had a saved version of it at school, but all of the work I had done in the past four hours was gone. So I got up early, went to school, worked through every class period and ignored my other teachers. I worked through lunch and didn’t eat, but two minutes before American Studies, I finished my book. I presented it to the class, and it was amazing. Not the presenting part, the show-the-book part.
So now, I prepare for my senior speech. I think I have enough experience with speeches now, so I should be fine.
I would also like to thank everyone who has responded to my articles in the past. I love reading your responses. Especially how I make everyone happy they’re not in school anymore. And yes, I know I need to relax and enjoy my last few weeks. Now that my biggest final is over, I will.
Mary Kelman is a senior at Anderson New Tech High School in Anderson, Calif., and an intern at anewscafe.com. She is documenting her last few weeks of high school. Click on her byline to read all the installments.
