Personal Narrative: Hunterdon Central TV

I always say to my family, “One day we will cross la frontera!” Living in Guadalajara, Mexico was not for the faint of heart. My family didn’t have much money and it was hard watching them sleeping on dirt floors. Mama, Roberto, and Francisco deserved better that what they had. I always imagined us crossing over to the beautiful United States. I knew one day we would cross that border so my family could have a better life.

In life, it always helps to feel included or to have something to relate to. Mine just so happened to be a television show. I’d like to think I identify most with the characters from “One Tree Hill”. In this show, it begins while the kids are in still high school, juniors actually. Later in the seasons it continues on with their life outside of school as adults. The choices the characters made throughout the series and the many challenges they faced began to relate to me in different ways. Not so much the trials they faced exactly but with the way the characters handled them in general. As cheesy as it sounds, this is why the show has so much meaning to me now.

studied various art mediums to explore creative talents. In my junior year, I decided to

As a child I enjoyed drawing several objects, and I felt that I had a rare gift to express life through art. I hope to reinvest my time back into my childhood hobby upon graduation later this year.

Most people can relate to what they call “Friday Night Lights.” Whether you played, coached, cheered, or watched a high school football game, you know how exhilarating they can be. As a high school student you felt like the coolest kid ever wearing your jersey to school and getting asked a million questions about the upcoming game. The feel of football is so different from any other sport. You sit in a locker room blasting music getting pumped up. Once you run onto that field and see hundreds of people in your schools colors jumping up and down screamings there 's no better feeling.

I chose to break the norm of either smiling at strangers or giving them a neutral look when you make eye contact. I decided to give every stranger I passed a confused look like they had just spoken to me in another language. I must admit, this made me feel a bit goofy. I was on the fence as to whether or not to do this in the first place but I decided I just had to. The responses I received were quite comical. A few people asked if I was alright, and one person even asked if I had a problem with them.

I remember our first road trip, it was to UGA and even though Ashi might have hated the school, I loved it! I loved it was partially because I got to go with such wonderful people and I had such a wonderful time. And every time you came to Johns Creek, it would be a new story on a new “crush” or one of my other boy problems. It’s going to change, from high school sweethearts to college sweethearts. These high school “Friday night lights” are soon going to be college “Friday night lights” and I really hope they’re worth it.

When I first started out going to Highland Park High School’s media club HPTV, I was a timid freshman unaware of how to use the big cameras or edit on any of the shiny silver apple computers. I wasn’t interested in any other clubs, so I gave HPTV a try. I walked in the white colored room my first day and didn’t have a clue of what I was doing there. It felt as though I was stepping off into the unknown, not knowing whether I would be okay or not.

My experience with theatre began during my sophomore year at West Hills High School when I chose to take a drama class merely for elective credit; little did I know how drastically performing arts would shape

Drawing has been my favorite hobby when I was at least a young girl. They have started out as childlike scribbles and have evolved into actual illustrations. Personally, my official start of my specialty didn't begin until middle school. I went through a phase where I drew stick figure comics parodying various skits I saw on television. Although I enjoyed them, a thought soon came to me in the seventh grade: I should take drawing a bit more seriously. The next several years revolved around learning and understanding the anime style, improving my drawing technique, and experimenting with body proportions and poses, mediums, and light sources. To this day, I continue to find multiple ideas to test my current and new skills; inspiration is almost everywhere, but it is challenging to find it, leading to conflicting but manageable art blocks.

When I was about four years old my mom walked in on me cutting fur off my Build-a-Bear and gluing it on my Barbie doll to make a fur coat. From that point on, she knew that she had an insanely creative child on her hands. I have always been engrossed in anything that involves creativity. I have a love for all creative outlets. I danced professionally for thirteen years, attended New Orleans

As a kid, I grew up reading fictional stories; the first book I ever held was the story of Winnie the Pooh and his friends (a gift from my parents when I got sick), watching and discovering sorts of characters from animated shows; and that includes imitating Disney Princesses of course, and many others. So when I was 7, I started wanting to become a successful artist, a writer, or any other that was connected with the arts and crafts. Why? It started when I was little and flourished when I entered school.

I awoke shivering afraid of the nightmare I had just had. It’s all because of the stories my brother told me, they aren’t true, I told myself. He always called me a loser. He always said “Zack you’re a baby!” Tonight I’ll show him, tonight is my revenge. I kept saying in my mind I’m not afraid. As I walked downstairs to go to my brother’s room in the basement I was passing the happy birthday decorations for me from two days ago. I remember the Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake in my mouth with the delicious frosting that said “Happy birthday fourteen year old!” When I opened the door to the basement I swear I saw something move. I reminded myself I am not a baby, and as I went down to the second step I heard what was down there. It sounded like fingernails being screeched across a chalk board.

Growing up in a single parent home with three brothers and one sister was always challenging for me. Not to mention everyday was an adventure for us. Uniquely we were all close in age, so we pretty much we had similar interest. Being the baby of the family, I always got picked on and bullied at school. Although being the shortest kid in school amazingly, I wasn’t scared of nothing. Also being different from everyone else made it so easy to find an outlet. Regardless of how much homework I had or chores to do on an everyday basis. With this in mind only in the sixth grade, I turned to arts and craft. Letting my mind explore the craziest ideas just kept floating in my head. Truly watching hgtv on cable every school afternoon had me ecstatic. Just seeing people build

What is this creation you might ask? Ha-ha, well it’s none other than a toy duck. A guy in his late teens making a toy duck, what’s the deal with that? Random things interest me, whether it’s designing something in Photoshop, brining something to life in person, or even a mix of both. At the end of the day I like to use my hands to make things, that doesn’t break the bank that is.