My (High School) Life In Pictures

It's embarrassing high school pictures week here on the Buzz Blog, and boy do I have some photos for you. Some people (*cough* Tina and Chuck *cough*) might be too chicken to share their actual school pics, but I'm not. Here, in all its early 1990s glory, is my high school life in pictures.

Starting off chronologically, here's my freshman yearbook picture. I'll give my hair a B and my unfortunately overly-floral outfit a D. Don't worry, it gets better. Eventually.


Next is my freshman swim team picture. My hair didn't change much over the year, but I did get bigger earrings. (Nothing can compare to the great plastic peace signs of eighth grade, though.)


This is a picture of me on my summer swim team. Note the lack of hairspray and curls and the excess of blonde. Summer was much more laid back (plus I was swimming with upperclassmen and college boys who didn't care about teased bangs).


On to my sophomore yearbook pic. A cute chin-length bob with just a hint of bang teasing. I actually made(!) the dress I'm wearing. It was adorable (and those big floral pattern dresses are totally back in right now).


Here's the sophomore swim team pic, in front of a fountain-y lake. Note the blunt bangs and the black scrunchy poised on top of my head. Classic.


The summer after sophomore year I went to an academic summer program called Missouri Scholars Academy. This is me and a few of my friends. I forgot to photoshop in a circle, but I'm the one in the striped polo. My volatile crush is in the pic. Guess which one he is. (Hint: It's one of the three boys.)


Junior year class pic. Very little hairspray and virtually no bang teasing. I am, however, now wearing makeup. Maybe there is an inverse relationship between bang teasing and makeup usage.


Junior year tennis pic with my pal Lori--isn't she beautiful? I was never very good at the "look casual" pose. That's why Lori looks way more relaxed than I do.


Spring of my junior year I went to the National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, DC. Tex here was one of my buds. I bet he'd be proud to know than I'm an adopted Texan now. (Note the scrunchy on top, but this time without bangs.)


Finally, the goods. My senior pictures. The one on the left was my official headshot, the one that's in the yearbook. I took it a few weeks before the other two. Once I saw it I hated how the smile made my cheeks pooch out, that's why I'm barely smiling in the later photos. I wasn't too fond of the 80s-perm-flashback curls, either.

My senior swim team photo. (Note: there was no junior year swim team photo due to idiocy on the part of my coach. I'm sure he regretted it once I started winning races senior year.) This was the year we had a college-boy assistant coach. That was definitely a YA book in the making.


My prom picture. My date was just a friend (actual, a friend of my best friend's younger bother) but we had a lot of fun. Believe it or not, my mom made my dress! It sure helps to have a former costumer for a mom.


Here's my official graduation picture. My Kickapoo High School classmates (nearly 400 of them) and I graduated in the main arena at Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University). The button on my gown says "Stacy Sherrill Suzie" in honor of the three women (two graduating Kickapoo seniors and one's mother) who went missing the day after graduation two years earlier. They've never been found.


Because the three women went missing after a non-sponsored graduation party, our school really pushed seniors to attend Project Graduation (a school sponsored all-night party at a local college rec center). It was a blast. And I just want to point out that the hottie in the background is perfect YA hero material. He was one of the nicest guys I knew, kind of a loner, and didn't seem to realize how truly hunky he was. Dreamboat. (Hi John!)


There it is. My high school life in excruciating detail. Maybe that was more than you wanted to know, but once I started in on the nostalgia train I couldn't stop. (I even renewed my Classmates.com membership last night. Sigh. I'm hopeless.)

Hugs,
TLC

OH. MY. GODS. (available now!)
GODDESS BOOT CAMP (coming June 2009)
teralynnchilds.com

PS — If anyone is in the West Houston area this afternoon (Tuesday, October 21st) I'll be signing and chatting at the Kendall Neighborhood Library from 4:00-5:30pm. Friendly Buzz Readers welcome!