Student Blogger: Allie Pruett - Page 2

Even four days after the fact, it still has yet to dawn on me that I've left the teenage years behind.

Having a major in the Fine Arts department can mean many things, but for me, it means being able to express myself through multiple outlets, including photography, which I just realized I have a new passion and appreciation for.

Picture a history buff high school freshman, who is hypercritical of this new musical that had just come out a year before about one of the Founding Fathers and is griping about all the historical inaccuracies. Flash forward to 2020, when said musical debuts on Disney+. That newly graduated high school senior had just had her perspective changed.

Picture a somewhat-windy Sunday afternoon in South St. Louis County. Can't do it? Well, I'll help you out there.

I used to only see myself in the performing arts, having been in choir for the majority of my life and having been engulfed in writing for the past several years. Now, I finally find myself branching out beyond what I thought I was capable of.

This year, I'm going to my first real musical. Yes, I saw a couple in high school and performed in many in my children's choir at church, but I've never been to a professional performance. Thankfully, my mom gifted me (and herself) Hamilton tickets for when the U.S. tour stops in St. Louis.

Every four years or so for the past...probably twenty years, MBU has been performing Handel's Messiah. This year is one of those years. Needless to say, it's not an easy work. It is several hundred years old, after all, and some things have been lost in translation, so to speak, but it's still a fun work nonetheless.

All in all, this time of year is just a time to wind down and reflect. If that means cutting some toxic people in your life out, that's perfectly fine. If it means bringing new people in, that's also great!

I know what you're thinking now, that all we sing is stuff about God and Jesus. While that is definitely in there, it's not all we do. We just had our fall concert on October 1st, which was just over a week ago now, and most of our lit centered around the bicentennial of the state of Missouri, as the state was established in 1821.

How do I manage my anxiety and get college done at the same time? It's easy. Don't pile too much on yourself at one time. Take it easy on yourself and don't overdo it. Find ways to manage your time that don't leave you in a panicky mess later.

The moral of the story here is that it's normal to go through phases where all you can really think about is this one fictional character you have a massive crush on. What you have to avoid is letting that take over your entire life. That leads to bigger problems, and trust me, you know you're not ready to deal with those.

I'm hoping this year is off to a good start. Of course, you're gonna have first day jitters, like not knowing where your classes are and living in a new environment, but you got this. You'll make good friends in no time. Trust me, I've been in your position. The friends you make in these next few years will be around for a lifetime. They will hype you up when you need it and will be a shoulder to cry on when you need one of those.

Choir was my real outlet last year, and I've no doubt that it will be the same this year. My professor, the wonderful Dr. Jordan Cox, was and is a light to everyone he came in contact with. He accepts people as they are, and embraces that special part of them. You really do see Christ in him, and that's rare nowadays.

He met Hamilton when they had similar positions in the Army, but John was an abolitionist, very much on the contrary to his father, so he recruited several black men that were still enslaved, to his regiment in his home state of South Carolina. Unfortunately, in 1782, his life was cut short at the Battle of the Combahee River several miles south of his birthplace in Charleston. He was buried in his family's property in Monck's Corner, on a property that is now a monastery that is called Mepkin Abbey.

March 17, 2020: my unofficial official last day of senior year. 'What comes next?' The next couple months were filled with Zoom calls, video assignments, and the like, and soon enough, I was done with high school. I didn't get to graduate until late July due to restrictions, after the date being pushed back twice from its original date in late May.

About two months ago, my mom and I were talking about him and then she asked me if I'd like something signed by him, and I jumped at the chance. Turns out, she was messaging back and forth with his sister-in-law who lives in the same town as us, who said he would be coming to town soon and that she'd give this stuff to him to sign for me.

I'm Allie, an almost-nineteen-year-old journalism major looking for a little thing to do during the summer to further my experience in the field. It's not much, but I couldn't be more excited.