Convention 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)

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The Good – Things That Were Actually Awesome

1. Finally, Social Interaction:
After pacing through paces alone in a church basement for nine months, getting to be around actual teenagers felt like a fever dream. Just kidding, most of us get interaction on the daily, but getting to meet kids from other schools and sometimes countries is...fun...sometimes...

2. That One Event You Rocked:
Whether it was poetry recitation, Bible memory, or a strangely intense game of table tennis—you had your moment, and you will bring it up at every opportunity. You will wear your medal 24/7 and have never ending bragging rights.

3. Matching Outfits, Unmatched Energy:
There’s nothing like walking into the gym in your school’s matching polos like a cult of well-behaved disciples. Intimidating? No. Adorable? Also no. But we thought we were cool. 

4. Worship Night Slaps:
Let’s not lie. That one worship session where everyone actually sang together and the guy with the guitar wasn’t off-key? Instant spiritual high. Except for how EVERY night we had to sit and stand and sit and stand multiple times while singing songs that Abraham wrote himself.

5. Finding Your People:
Convention friends >>> regular friends. You bonded over awkward meals, horrible dining experiences, late-night practice sessions, the one weird school, favoritism to certain schools, and collectively hating that one judge who was “just being honest.” Sorry guys, honesty isn't always the best policy.

The Bad – Things We’re Still Recovering From

1. The Judges Were Feral:
“Great tone, but your hand was distracting.” Ma’am, I was gesturing with emotion. Sorry, I didn’t perform like a sanctified robot. 

2. Food That Was Questionably Legal:
The food was good, when it wasn't a fight for your life to get some. I have never been so stressed as I was in that dining hall with hundreds of foreign kids surrounding me, asking to trade pins while I had a panic attack in the Chick-fil-A line.

3. The Housing Situation:
Raise your hand if you stayed with strangers who had one shower and twelve students crammed into the guest room. Memories were made. Hygiene was not. The communal bathrooms were a little questionable. That's all I'm gonna say.

4. The “Spirit of Competition” Got...Intense:
Yes, this was technically about glorifying God through our talents. But let’s be honest—someone definitely cried when their Afghan didn’t place. And I definitely heard some booing during certain command performances.

5. The Talent Gap Was Real:
You either met a musical prodigy who could sight-read Bach in their sleep, or someone who entered an event and should’ve just stayed home. There was no in-between.

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Hot Takes I’m Definitely Not Sorry For

• Dramatic Monologue should be watched by talent scouts.

• Group Bible Speaking is just synchronized swimming but with voices.

• Puppetry should be an Olympic sport. The arm cramps are real.

• The judges were either terrifying or 97 years old—no middle ground.

• There was definitely some favoritism...that's all I'm gonna say.

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The Real Talk – Why We Keep Going Back

Here’s the thing: as much as we roast it, Convention was a core memory. It was one of the few times we got to be around other weird, homeschooled, Jesus-loving kids who knew how it felt to win a ribbon and feel like it meant something. We grew closer to each other and God.

It was awkward. It was extra. It was chaotic. And it shaped us.

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If you’ve ever spent six hours in a gym watching 27 identical vocal solos, cried over a fourth-place ribbon, or flirted by complimenting someone’s flag drill time—you are seen. You are valid. And you are Convention Core™.

Here’s to the polos, the PowerPoint sermons, the trauma bonding, and the talent.

Till next time,
— Alyssa🦩

P.S. Drop your favorite (or most scarring) Convention memory in the comments. Bonus points if it includes a puppet, a judge with a clipboard, or a failed ribbon ceremony hug.