{"id":975,"date":"2019-06-06T09:03:46","date_gmt":"2019-06-06T16:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/?p=975"},"modified":"2019-06-06T09:05:51","modified_gmt":"2019-06-06T16:05:51","slug":"hillbrook-award-recipient-gabriella-underwood-15-addresses-the-class-of-2015-at-graduation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/2019\/06\/hillbrook-award-recipient-gabriella-underwood-15-addresses-the-class-of-2015-at-graduation\/","title":{"rendered":"Hillbrook Award Recipient Gabriella Underwood (’15) Addresses the Class of 2019 at Graduation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gabriella received the Hillbrook Award when she graduated in 2015. The Hillbrook Award is given to the student in a class who best exemplifies Hillbrook’s Vision: to inspire students to achieve their dreams and reach beyond themselves to make a difference in the world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gabi Underwood (’15) addresses the graduating class. Photo by Greg Stamos, 6th-8th Grade Art & Electives Teacher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Greetings, faculty, staff, family, friends, and most importantly, the graduates up on this stage. Whether you\u2019ve been at Hillbrook for one year or ten years, congratulations!<\/em> You\u2019ve unlocked and mastered every level of the game. You\u2019ve rightfully dominated every play structure on campus; you\u2019ve read every novel that Hillbrook assigns; and you\u2019ve crushed every Friday Fitness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now, you go on to high school<\/em>. Which means…  you can finally relate to all those Hollywood movies you\u2019ve been watching!! High School Musical<\/em>, Mean Girls<\/em>, Clueless<\/em>, the list goes on. Well, okay, it\u2019s a little<\/em> bit more than that. I\u2019m sure most of you are left with a bittersweet feeling, as you have formed some of the tightest friendships you will ever form. Just last month, I attended a reunion with the class of 2015, my class. And if I were to go into detail of how amazing it was, you\u2019d probably still be up here by the time these guys (pointing to the first graders) graduate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, high school is also full of new adventures, friendships, and privileges. For example, you can now use your iPad at lunch and recess. You can drive to school\u2014and by that I mean picking up your friends, rolling down the windows, and playing the song <\/em>\u201cSicko Mode\u201d at full blast. You can choose your class schedule, more or less\u2014if you love reading, you can take two different English classes in one year. You can go to prom, which is obviously the sole purpose of attending high school, if you ask any Hollywood director. (No, it really isn\u2019t.) You can better manage your homework thanks to more frequent study halls. You can go off campus for lunch — or if that\u2019s not allowed, just try not to get caught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you ask me, it sounds like paradise. And yes, a lot of it is. But you can never be too careful in preparing for high school. And I hope, that by sharing with you a couple of lessons I\u2019ve learned along the way, I can spare you things like the wrath of Regina George, from the movie Mean Girls<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my first insight, I\u2019ll start with you a story — one that took place at my summer college last year. One night, the college was hosting its annual talent show, just like Hillbrook does. When intermission came on, the host announced, \u201cOkay everybody, we will need a few volunteers to come up on stage please!\u201d Now, in this moment, I thought, Alright. Back at Hillbrook, it\u2019s very normal to jump on a stage and\u2026  maybe tell a joke. So what\u2019s the worst that can happen in front of these three hundred people?<\/em> So, my friends and I shoved each other up on stage. We had no idea<\/em> what I signed up for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of a sudden (and to my absolute horror)<\/em>, the lights dimmed; the spotlight shone our faces; Finesse<\/em> by Bruno Mars blasted from the speakers; and the host boomed, \u201cDance battle! GO!\u201d Oh. My. Goodness,<\/em> I thought, as I peered at the three hundred expectant faces. My body froze like an ice cube, and I suddenly forgot my middle name. You see, it\u2019s not that I was afraid of an audience; the problem<\/em> was that my dancing experience was only suitable for some questionable mosh pits at a school dance. What was I going to do? Well, fortunately, thanks to the improv skills that Hillbrook taught me, I played along, made up a dance, and it turned out okay. In fact, as hard as it was to admit it, I actually kind of liked it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon, and to my surprise, I found myself scrambling to audition for my school\u2019s dance team, which was only last year. It was incredible; I got to dance with an amazing group of people; I learned that teamwork doesn\u2019t only lie in the sports I\u2019ve play, but in dance routines; and I got to perform in front of my school for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I think of this experience, my mind automatically races to Hillbrook\u2019s core value, \u201cTake Risks.\u201d I don\u2019t mean taking the wrong sorts of risks, like scaling your friend\u2019s rooftop and doing a double backflip 360 into the pool. But maybe you can join a play; or tryout for freshman lacrosse; or sign up for art class. High school is where you can both pick up new skills and sharpen your old ones. Join as many activities as you can, even if they\u2019re completely new to you. Because Hillbrook has definitely prepared you to do so. Also, you\u2019ll make new friends that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of friends, I have another tip for you: make great friends in your class, and make equally great friends in the grades above and below you — and from other schools, too. This includes your Hillbrook pals. Let me illustrate why you should do this, in addition to having a shoulder to lean on, and all-around good company. For example: Do your math problems look like they came straight from the works of Albert Einstein himself? Ask a junior for their old notes. Need a certain textbook? Maybe you can get yours for free, from an older student, and save hundreds of dollars. In need of a good time? Maybe, instead of simply attending prom at your own high school, you can go to an additional prom somewhere else, too. Overall, make friends from all corners of the world while you\u2019re in high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My final piece of advice is: just have fun. You might be thinking, Yes but I come from Hillbrook, so I already know how to do that.<\/em> But in high school, it can sometimes seem more complicated than that for some reason — specifically, when resumes and college applications get in the mix. For instance, I have personally seen certain students pull an all-nighter and then show up to class with Cheetos for breakfast. Or other students treat college applications like a four-year Olympic triathlon. Or others simply sign up for too many APs. Not all students, rest assured, but some. DON\u2019T be that person. Instead, strive to find an all-around balance in your life — which absolutely includes fun, and also your best effort academically. For that<\/em> is how you will thrive. Class of 2019, Hillbrook has undoubtedly prepared you well for what\u2019s to come. And hopefully, you had fun in the process. Now, the clock is ticking till you can leap into summer and then explore the uncharted lands of high school. And whether your experience is closer to High School Musical<\/em>, or Clueless<\/em>, or something totally new, I hope that your time there eclipses that of any movie. Congratulations, 2019, once again. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gabriella received the Hillbrook Award when she graduated in 2015. The Hillbrook Award is given to the student in a class who best exemplifies Hillbrook’s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,162,211],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni","category-graduation","category-hillbrook-traditions"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=975"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":979,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975\/revisions\/979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}