By Allison Owen I've been really busy lately mixing everything that I have for school and winter guard together. I'm in the middle of four show weekends in a row, which is exciting, but also keeps me really busy. Scholarship deadlines are approaching as the end of my senior year is winding down.

Allison Owen
of my teachers are buckling down for the last few weeks before spring break, trying to get as much in as possible. As much as I never thought it would happen to me, I think I've got a pretty bad case of "senioritis." ^As I'm finishing up high school I'm finally getting to teach color guard. Teaching is something I have been looking forward to for quite some time, and last weekend was my first opportunity to actually be on a staff. It was definitely a blast! While some of the people I was teaching were a bit older than me, no one seemed to mind my age because of the experience I have had. It was a lot of fun for my first experience at really teaching and I'm looking forward to my opportunities in the future. While I'm gaining experience in color guard I'm also gaining performance skills I did not have in the past. This weekend I felt like I was going to fall over because I was so dizzy. It took everything in me to not just fall over and go to sleep. Even right now I feel absolutely awful, but Saturday night I was a mess. (I wasn't the only one either, quite a few of our guard seemed to looking pretty bad.) But the show must go on, so by some means I pulled it together, because I knew that once it was over I could go home. Somehow I was able to get through the show, and I think it was my best of the season. Before our show started my old guard yelled for me, and that was a little bit of motivation for me to make it to the end. We did very well as an ensemble, and everyone seemed to be in a good mood after the show -- meaning no one had a major blow up. I felt better once we were done. Later while we were waiting for retreat I got to see some of my friends, which is always something to brighten my day. A couple girls said my left ankle looked a little swollen, and it hurt a little bit, but I thought nothing of it. When I watched a recording of our show later, I'm pretty sure I saw myself twist my ankle. That was quite strange, but I think I was concentrating so much on getting through the show without falling over that I didn't notice anything else. At least now the slight swelling is justified, but it doesn't really hurt. I've had a busy few weeks, but ultimately they have been enjoyable as well. I've been learning a great deal of time management skills though, so I guess that means these few weeks have also been productive. While I can't wait to graduate, I'm trying to enjoy these last couple months of high school and winter guard as best I can. I'm sure I'll miss some of it when everything is said and done. I>Allison Owen, 17, is a senior at Sullivan Central High School in Blountville, Tenn. She was assistant conductor at Southwind, and she enjoys dancing, performing, color guard, writing, English, and having fun. She plans on attending Western Carolina University next fall.