Senior Pictures

Grad announcements

BIG SHOUT OUT TO MALLORY FRAUGHTON, THE AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHER AND GREAT FRIEND WHO TOOK MY SENIOR PICTURES FOR ME! THANKS MALLORY! IF YOU EVER NEED PICTURES DONE LOOK HER UP OR VISIT HER WEBSITE!! I EVEN LEAVE YOU HER LINK!!! http://malannfraughton.wix.com/mallory

High school recap/ graduation!

Hey guys! So recently a lot has been going on so I'm going to give a couple major life updates in this one post so be prepared! 

The first major life change that has happened is I was apart of the graduating class of 2014! Which is very exciting in every way possible for me! High school was very difficult for me in a lot more ways than one! I wouldn't say that I'm one of those people who are going to want to go back anytime soon... Here's a little recap on each year

Freshman: For me freshman year was my favorite year! That year made me somewhat hopeful for the next three years ahead. I was  very involved in student council, my grades were awesome, my social life was great, and everything seemed like it was finally falling into place. I made it through the year and then that summer I had a surgery that I was dreading for 2 straight years and that's when things began to take a turn. For my whole summer I pretty much spent it recovering and trying to get ready to go back to school on time with everybody else. I was determined to do it and I did! But it definitely wasn't easy! Took a while.

Sophomore: sophomore year began a little rocky due to the surgery and other things. Not only was I trying to recover from surgery but I also had a full schedule and was apart of student council still. If that doesn't sound like a lot we were also in the beginning stages of the trial in Oakland. But my friends were still awesome and things were hectic but it was somewhat in control until I began traveling to Oakland every week officially. After that I began to lose control kind of slow and steady. Not only were things starting to go wrong physically but also mentally I was starting question a lot of things that normal teenagers do like, my friends, who I was, and want I wanted in life for example. By the end of sophomore year I was ready for summer. Unfortunately before it ended I had to drop student council to make my schedule a little easier.

Junior: probably the worst year out of all the years. I would say that this year I was very sad and frustrated with how life was going for me. I began to become more isolated from everyone and more moody than normal. I was very closed off and I didn't care as much but at the same time cared too much. My grades were at an all time low, the study was stressing me out makeup work was piling up, I felt very lost in everyway, and I felt very alone. I really tried to get things back on track I joined a community service class, I changed my class load and tried to be more happy but all those things just made it worse. My community service class demanded a lot of time I didn't have and I was always behind luckily I had amazing teachers in that class that were very understanding and helpful but I still felt bad about how much extra slack the were cutting me. Oakland was Oakland it was demanding but started to become regular and little did I know that's where I'd find structure. By the end of junior year I was completely done with this stage of my life. I was ready to graduate and move on and make them distant memories.

Senior: by senior year I was just existing, only had to be there 5 hours out of the day and four days out of the week so I was pretty much not really there. When I wasn't there I was either at home or in Oakland. My social life was very chill to put it in a nice way and I was really just trying to focus on trying to balance and juggle everything else so it was somewhat on the back burner. It really did fly by and went painfully slow at the end but it ended and I couldn't have been happier some might question the amount of excitement I had as way too much! But if you were in my shoes You'd understand. 

High school wasn't at all what I expected it to be, within those four years I completely lost who I was and began to question everything. Most importantly I started to doubt myself. I started to believe that this is all that life was full of bad days and sleepless nights with tiny breaks in between. That I would just have to figure out how to survive. Of course I was wrong and I kind of knew that all along in the back of my head but you know I'm a teenager and I have to figure things out the hard way sometimes.

Before I continue to tell you guys the second part of my good news I have to give a special shout out to some pretty awesome teachers I had....

1. Mr.Hardt- Psychology and Government: This guy right here is so amazing in more ways than one, he really did help me become a better and more assertive person. He was one of those teachers who cared less about your grade point average and more about who we were as individual people. He really did care more than he led on too! Mr.Hardt if you are reading this thank you so much for helping me remember how to believe in myself again and teaching me how to be more assertive, I'm still working on it but I'm improving everyday. I can't wait to bring back my University Diploma to hang on your wall!!!

2.Mrs. Sylss- Jr. English/GC105: So as I said above Jr year was the hardest year for me and probably my all time low. Well I had this IEP meeting that I always dreaded because basically its where all your teachers get together with your parents and counsellors to tell them about your progress... At that time I was a perfectionist and my grades were definitely not cutting it. I had a major break down because everyone was looking to me to tell them what to do and I felt like a complete failure... Well this woman right here gave me some tissues and pulled me to the side and told me "Kianna you've got to let go and to stop being a perfectionist. You are way to hard on yourself and you're making things harder.  You've got to believe in yourself because I know you can do it" Mrs. Sylss if you're reading this thank you so much for everything you did for me! That small pep talk is really when things began to change for me and I began to start believing in who I was again. That pep talk also had a little something to do with my tattoo too. I really appreciate everything, you are an amazing teacher with an amazing personality and you taught me a lot, I will be forever grateful. Thank You tons!

Finally for my second major life announcement I have been accepted to..... ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY!!! I'm officially a sundevil! I am so excited for this new chapter of my life to start. I am so ready for a new adventure with new people and tons of new opportunities to be seen! I'll be posting a more info about it later but for now lets just enjoy and take this all in!

Before I officially I end this post I have to shout out all of the people who came out and showed support for me and the ones who sent love who just couldn't make it! Especially to the ones who came out and cheered the loudest for me I love you guys so much! you really don't understand how much it meant to me! I am forever grateful to all you wonderful people. I love you guys!

Just love my family definitely faves

best couple in the world, love them

One of my favorite people in the world

Forever Friends, Love her

Best Friend in the world

one of my Favorite cousins

best influence in my life 

Oakland

Sometimes you don't realize how much people change your life or how much you'll miss the people you see everyday until you no longer get to. This is kind of hard to write because as weird as this sounds it's the end of the study and as of right now I'm not sure if I'm ready for it to be. Since I haven't been updating you guys regularly you probably wouldn't know that the study has come to an end because the drug now called Vimizn was approved on February 14, 2014! Which is amazing news right? Yes, it is but with the approval of the drug also means no more traveling with the people I love the most or seeing all the amazing people I met on this journey... It's hard to explain the experience I had with these people because it was really indescribable. 

No one will ever understand what happened there, no one will ever understand how extremely hard it was to have to just stop your everyday routine and go do something that might not have even worked, no will understand what it felt like to see my classmates doing the things I wanted to that I missed out on, no one will ever understand the stress, the tears, the anger, the frustration, and the confusion. No one will ever understand how much everyone in the study sacrificed to be there. It's really one of those things that I can't explain you just had to be there to experience it. If you were there You know.

It's kind of ironic how easy Oakland was for me. When I was there I could really be myself, I knew because when I was there I was happy I felt confident in the things I did and said. I wasn't afraid to speak up and I laughed a ton. Now it sucks to come home and realize that's over for the time being. I'm going to miss going to Oakland and the easiness of it all, I'm going to miss that when I wasn't there I felt missed, I truly and genuinely felt loved and appreciated all the time. I'm really going to miss the easiness and ironically it's been the best time ever. Now don't get me wrong when I say easy because I don't mean easy in the way you may think, going to Oakland every week was everything but easy. What I mean is that the relationships I built with everyone was easy, that it wasn't hard to find my place there. It wasn't hard to fit in and be yourself around everyone. It wasn't just the hospital either it was the taxi drivers, the hotel workers, the doctors, nurses, other families, the flight attendants, the Southwest staff, security, and everyone else that we met along the way. It was like a whole other life, a whole other world that I didn't know could exist. Oakland made me feel like a visitor in my own state, it made me feel like the new kid at school, like I transferred in the middle of the year and everyone already had there clique so there really wasn't a place for me. It was ironic in a way that at the beginning it was the place I dreaded on going to but ended up feeling more at home than any place I've ever been before... Here's the thing I will always miss Oakland and the way things used to be, I will always miss my friends that became family and how comfortable I felt with all of them. I knew that it'd come eventually and leaving Oakland for the last time and going down those white hallways leaving the "basement" for good was probably the saddest moment in my life so far but everything that happened within those two years and the people I got really attached to will always hold a special place in my heart. You guys really changed my life and I really appreciate each and everyone of you. Thank you for everything.