Discus Award Winner
Winners Gallery
PHOTOS
Ashley Meneely
12th Grade, AZ
ATTRIBUTES
Athletics
I have been on a swim team in my freshman year and my senior year. I was about the fourth fastest on the team this year (it was a small team though, only like 40 people participating). I have also participated in track and field, and cross country my freshman year. I'm not too great of a runner though, so I didn't win any races or even come close. Also my freshman and sophomore years I was a flutist in my high school's marching band. I had to lead the whole 226-member band off the field. Also, in my junior year, I was learning at an online school and I went to the YMCA nearly every day and worked out there as well.
Arts
When I was in seventh grade, I wrote the longest story I ever had, and it was about 200 notebook pages (back and front). I have participated in a competition called NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month), in which one tries to write 50,000 words in the month of November, and 'won" every time I have tried it (made it to the 50 thousand words). I have also participated in and "won" one Script Frenzy in April, sponsored by the same people as NaNoWriMo, and in this challenge one tries to write a 100 page script for a movie or anything really. I have also been a member of a creative writing club and a poetry club my freshman and sophomore years. I also have played the flute since 6th grade and have played guitar on and off since I was 11. I've also taught myself various other instruments.
Other Achievements
This year has been particularilly tough for me. I've been dealing with depression, anxiety and eating disorders since I was in sixth grade. My sophmore and junior year was the worst with that, but I was still pulling a 4.0 GPA. I'd started counseling and had gotten a bit better, on and off. This year though, it was starting to fall off the cliff again, and so I had to pull out of school and went to a treatment facility for six weeks. On account of this, I didn't have enough time to turn in all my schoolwork and my grades have plummeted worse than they ever have in my life. I have also moved a lot. I've lived in 12 states and Canada. It's hard to leave your friends all the time- the longest I''ve ever lived in one place was a little over three years.
