MADDIE | FREEDOM HS SENIOR | MANASSAS BATTLEFIELD SENIOR SESSION

I had the pleasure of taking pictures of the President last week!… okay, okay, the STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT of Freedom High School! 🙂  After a few scheduling conflicts and rain delays, we finally made it happen! Maddie graduates TODAY from Freedom High School, the high school that I graduated from EIGHT YEARS ago in 2007!! Time sure does FLY! Congratulations to Maddie and the rest of the Eagles on this big milestone! Aside from her duties as SCA Prez, Maddie was involved in Drama and could be found behind the scenes as stage manager! This summer she is traveling to California for vacation and will be off to Atlanta in the Fall where she will be studying Computer Science at Georgia Tech. Keep reading to find out why and how cool this girl is!

I love how the pink POPS!

What are you planning to study at Georgia Tech?

I’m going to study computer science! As a female, I think it will be cool to prove that women can be good at nerdy things like programming, too! I think what I love most about computer science is the rewarding feeling of looking back at a program after hours upon hours or days or weeks of work and watching it run correctly. Comp sci is a field that branches off into so many different things and I’m excited to learn about all of the possibilities in the future.

UM, HELLO — GORGEOUS!
I love Maddie’s smile! (She did a good job laughing at all of my corny jokes)

What activities did you participate in during high school?

I’ve been a lot of honor societies but the two most important activities to me have been the Student Council Association and Theatre. I was the president in both groups and in theatre I was also the Stage Manager for all main-stage and some in-class productions at FHS. For both activities, I really felt like I became a role model for younger students. Even though it wasn’t necessarily a goal to become a leader, I was surprised to find that people looked up to me without me doing anything purposely to make that happen. Hearing people talk about me as a leader is so strange, because I honestly never thought I’d be such an influence in their lives, but it’s been really incredible to work and become friends with so many peers and underclassmen who I hope will continue to do the same.

Do you have any advice to for the underclassmen/rising seniors?

I have a lot of advice I want to share about senior year and life in general.

1. Your choice for what you do after high school is important but what you do somewhere is way more important than WHERE you’re doing it. Getting into the best school isn’t necessarily the most important thing – just go where you’ll be the happiest and where it makes sense for you to be.

2. Stop caring what other people think and start forming your own opinions and beliefs.

(Is she smart or what?! I feel like not everyone learns this so young.)

One of my favorites!

3. INVEST MORE IN PEERS/TEACHERS/PARENTS/FAMILY THAN IN GRADES. Cherish every moment. I found out a lot this year… I realized it was the last time I’d ever do something with those people and part of it could be that I’m moving to Georgia but it applies in a lot of situations.

4. People are still looking up to you no matter what. Even when you’re “checked out” at school, keep chugging along in extracurriculars! Keep it up!

Look at all those cords & medals! GO girl!
Her last words of advice…

“You hear this a lot… but you CAN do anything.”

Scream it from the mountain tops! You go girl!

Congratulations, Maddie! I predict a bright future for you!

xoxo, Brett