Alyssa Unfiltered

  Student Conventions: Unfiltered – Where Talent Meets Trauma Bonding Alyssa Unfiltered – Reporting live from the land of paces, polos, and power-packed puppetry. Picture this: hundreds of teenagers from across the country, all dressed like they’re about to teach Sunday school, gathered together in one place to… recite dramatic monologues, sing old-fashioned gospel songs, and race each other in athletic events that haven’t been cool since 1987. Welcome to Student Convention—ACE edition. Whether you’re at Regionals or living it up at International (aka "the Olympics for Ace and Christi"), you may not be guaranteed to leave with a few medals but you will leave with a lot of memories, and probably some unresolved competitiveness disguised as "godly encouragement." Let’s break it down: the chaos, the nerves, the overenthusiastic chaperones, and why someone always ends up crying during vocal solo. (Yes, I did cry... a lot) The Good – Things That Were Actually Awes...

  Graduation: Unfiltered, Awkwardly Intimate, and Emotionally Confusing I was the entire graduating class. The valedictorian, the last alphabet, and the awkward kid trying not to cry while being stared at by everyone's grandma. And also no, I don't feel any different and I'm still an idiot. Just now I'm an idiot with papers! Have you ever walked into a room and realized the event is  about you ? Not in a diva, "I booked the stadium" kind of way—"they set up folding chairs in the fellowship hall and your name is printed on a cupcake" sort of way. I just graduated from a small private school. And by small , I mean I was the only one in the senior class. One cap. One gown. One lonely walk to Pomp and Circumstance while everyone tried to make it feel like this wasn't the most painfully specific rite of passage ever. The Good Things I Actually Liked About Graduation 1. I Was the Main Event (Literally): No competition for "best dressed,...