Jessica Ordoyne

"As I near my graduation from high school, I look back on the past four years and at all the fun I've had. Dances, guys, finally getting my driver's license, Mu Alpha Theta  [Mu Alpha Theta is a national high school and junior and community college mathematics club] conventions... it's been a great time.

Speaking of the Mu Alpha Theta convention, that's probably where I had most of my fun in high school. Normally you wouldn't hear something about math and "fun" in the same sentence, but trust me on this. Convention is a BLAST...it's basically a bunch of math nerds like me wreaking havoc on some poor, unsuspecting hotel. We do actually do constructive math-related stuff, and call me a nerd, but it's fun. We play games, hold competitions, and we even have a dance on one of the nights. I've also met so many interesting people through the two that I've been to. Now, no one drinks, no one does any sort of drugs, and yet we all manage to have an unbelievable amount of fun. I mean, come on...when you let hundreds of teenagers loose in a hotel for three days, how can you NOT have a good time?

Seriously, though, it's times like that when I realize how thankful I am that I have my head on straight, and I'm not ruining my life for a cheap thrill or a quick high every now and then. If I depended on drugs to make me "happy" (it's in quotes because no one dependent on drugs can ever be truly happy), there's no way I'd be where I am today. I plan on attending Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, which is where I really wanted to go; I received a scholarship to do so; I have one of the highest GPAs in my class, and I plan on graduation with honors this May.

Basically, I have way too much going for me now to mess it up with drugs."