My heart started racing, nerves reacted with extreme intensity, and my palms got clammy as I strolled through the doors of my high school. This image is not one of my freshman year, but of the pinnacle of my high school career, senior year. “Why so nervous?” I asked myself. I mean it was only my fourth year in the same school. Ironically, however, that day mirrored my very first day at Floyd Central High School. Yes, that was I, Brianna Slusher, a senior walking from class to class with a map in hand. Since the second semester of my freshman year, my school had been undergoing renovations and has changed drastically since then, but never like this.

That was when I knew that the finale to my high school experience would be an adventure that I would never forget.
  
I have grown from the pee-wee little freshman that strolled through the doors without a care in the world to the young woman preparing to walk across the stage before my family and peers at my graduation. Now that I am a senior, I have had several opportunities to step up to the plate and become a leader in the many programs I am involved in. Journalism is the key component to all the activities and leadership roles I play, and thanks to the three summers and four sessions I attended at HSJI, I earned these positions.

Currently, my two publications The Bagpiper (newspaper) and the Bartizan (yearbook) are starting off the year well, considering the bulk of the staffs are brand new. Not to mention that the lack of security during the summer renovations caused us to lose our staff computers. That put us weeks behind. The Bartizan is finishing its template designs, while the Bagpiper is about to release its third issue and more content online.
    
This year I took a giant leap in ranks at the Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Crops, as I got promoted from a Seamen Apprentice to a Cadet Chief Petty Officer. Being promoted onto the Company Upper Staff is meant to be those who have served in the program for three to four years however with my new rank I was given the job as the S-2 Public Affairs Intelligence Media Officer My duties in this position require me to use my talents in journalism and mass media to provide coverage and keep records of the events the company does. I managed to create our own website within the first two weeks of school and update it on a regular basis.
    
Academically, this school year has not been as difficult as it has been over the past couple years. I believe this because I am mature enough to handle all of my responsibilities. Being a part of so many activities, surrounding myself with so many different kinds of people, and stepping up and becoming a leader has helped me grow and develop as a person. My senior year will be an accomplishment.