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Here is a photo of me and my twin sister Molly around the age of thirteen. 

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During adolescence, you experience a multitude of biologically changes through a process called puberty. For me, this process brought along many difficulties. However, the most difficult aspect of the biological changes I experienced through puberty was the physical self comparison I felt toward my sister. She always developed faster than me in every way. Additionally, she always seemed to get complemented on looking “adult.” This is something I wanted so badly therefore, I constantly felt the need to compare my physical development to my sister’s. Ultimately, this created a dissatisfaction with my own body and my lack of biological development.

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This is a photo of me and my friends at our senior prom. 

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In adolescences, sexuality is the process of discovery who you are as an individual. Additionally, this can be an exploration of what you want in your relationships be they romantic or platonic. I feel as an adolescents I began this process rather young during my middle school years. I would always have crushes, but not really know what to do with those feelings. In the beginning they were always a very uncomfortable and embarrassing feeling for me. However, as I progressed into high school I began to better understand the feelings I was having. Additionally, my idea of what I wanted in a romantic partner was better developed. Therefore, I began to make better decisions in what I wanted to with these crushes, whether to pursue them or not. Ultimately, I feel even as a 20 year old I am still trying to discover what I want in a partner even though I began the process almost a decade ago.

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This is a photo of me performing my senior solo. 

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Cognitive transitions are another vital aspect of adolescent development. For me, I experienced the most notable cognitive development during my senior year of high school. I truly began to flourish in confidence and be unapologetically me. Furthermore, this was the first time in my life when I was beginning to think about my future not just a week or so ahead. I was researching colleges and majors and truly finding who I wanted to be. This forward thinking is the perfect example of adolescence cognitive development.

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This is a photo of my small high school friend group.

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For adolescence, peer groups are essential to growth and development. They influence our decisions and shape who we become. Additionally, these peer groups can change and shift throughout adolescence. For myself, I most definitely experienced many peer shifts. In elementary I was in a large friend group of all girls. However, I would have considered myself relatively popular therefore I talked to and interacted with almost everyone. As I transitioned to middle school, my friend group became much smaller and maintained that small size through high school. Although, my peer group still changed from middle school to high school. Nonetheless, I learned something about myself from every single one of my adolescences peer groups.

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This is a photo of me on move in day freshman year. 

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As an adolescence, you experience many social transitions. This can be in the form of religious ceremonies, a cross country move, or family change. For most these social changes signify one’s transition into adulthood. My most notable social transition which I experienced in adolescence was moving out of my parent’s house. Though my parents only live fiftieth from Lourdes, moving away from home no matter how far is a significant change. I had to learned to grocery shop and cook for myself while navigating a new living environment with total strangers. Moving away from home forced me to build a type of independent I would not have developed had I continued to live at home through college. Ultimately, this social transition shaped me to the person I am today which helped me and continues to help me grown into adulthood.

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Here is a photo of me and my beautiful family at the Toledo Botanical Gardens. 

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There are four different types of parenting styles which shape a family dynamic. These parenting styles are authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and indifferent. I was lucky enough to grow up in a two parent household where both parents used mainly the authoritative parenting style. This being that the parent strict while still showing empathy and support. Both my parents always had high expectations for me and my siblings as well as set clear rules to follow. However, they always prioritized open communication from parent to child in addition to looking out for each child’s individual needs. Ultimately, I feel this parenting style helped me and my siblings to become very self sufficient while maintaining a healthy relationship with both our parents.

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This of a photo of me at the beginning of senior year outside of high school. 

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Schools have a huge impact on adolescents and the people they become. Large amounts of students lives are spent in school which is what makes them such influential environments. Unlike most, I attended an admission only charter arts school in downtown Toledo from grades 6th-12th. For this reason my middle/high school experience was rather unique. While still taking your traditional math, science, history, and english courses, students were given the opportunity to take up to three art electives per year. Additionally, every “traditional” course had the arts integrated into each and every project often with options to choose from. Furthermore, we would put on annual shows as part of our course work. It was an extremely accepting and creative environment that was highly individually focused. Ultimately, I feel this schooling environment had a huge impact on me. Due to my experiences there, I feel I gained independence and initiative skills in addition to a different prospective on life.

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Here is a cheesy photo of me at my work taken for the social media account. 

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As adolescence, working experience is an excellent way to gain skills not necessarily taught through traditional school or via parents in the home. For me personally, I took full advantage of the knowledge I could gain through a job by starting at a young age. I began babysitting around age twelve before moving to get my first “real job” at age fifteen. This was when covid hit. I had lots of time on my hands so I felt it was the perfect time to start a job. I started working at the gym I went to as a front desk attendant and have worked there ever since. Additionally, my senior year of high school I had the opportunity to intern for a chiropractic office. Ultimately, that internship turned into a summer job. With all these job opportunities, I feel I was able to form a sense of personal responsibility. Furthermore, I feel working in customer service truly helped me to open up and be more confident in social situations as an adolescent.

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This is a photo of my final bow as a senior in high school. 

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Identity is something that adolescents work to discover, however this personal growth extends far beyond adolescents. For me dance was something that always helped to form my identity. Though I started my dance career rather late compared to my peers, it quickly became a key part of myself. Furthermore, not only did dance help me find myself on an individual level, I was able to find a group I truly belonged with.

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This is a photo of my sister and I at our high school graduation party. 

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Autonomy is something that begins to develop during one’s adolescent years. It is the idea of building your own values and beliefs as well as making decisions for yourself. For me, this skill was most notable developed my senior year of high school when making my college commitment decision. This was a decision that consumed me for months because I understood the impact it would have. I toured multiple colleges and did plenty of research on price, housing, student satisfaction, etc. Many nights were spent arguing with my parents about making a decision. Ultimately, over winter break of my senior year I decided on Lourdes University. Making this decision helped me to form a strong sense of autonomy and better understand what I want in life. Additionally, I can confidently say now that I feel I mad the right decision!

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This is a photo of me taking senior homecoming photos at Lourdes. 

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Intimacy is the sense of openness and vulnerability you share with someone you are in a close relationship with. This can be in any type of relationship including friends, family, and romantic partners. For me this began to develop in the beginning of high school. I started going on causal dates and developing closer relationships with friends. However, as an adolescent and now I am a hopeless romantic. For that reason I was mostly focused on developing intimacy in romantic relationships. Throughout high school I was in an intimate long-term relationship. I feel this really helped me to open up to those I was close with even outside of my relationship. Normally, I was a very closed off person and always kept to myself even with family. However, being committed to someone taught me that it is okay to lean on those close to you and have intimacy in all relationships.

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A picture of me and my high school dance team. 

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Achievement for adolescences is incredibly important to one’s self esteem and sense of accomplishment. It also represents one’s ability to stick to a goal. Though, like most others have posted, high school graduation was a big achievement for me, there was another achievement which I value almost as much. I went to a performing arts school 6th-12th. Though I originally enrolled there to pursue art, I quickly transitioned to dance. Starting as a complete beginner I worked day in and day out to improve. Finally, my junior year of high school, I was moved up to the highest skill level group. This was something I had worked to achieve for so long. Ultimately, I was proud I reached my goal and I am still proud today of my dedication to succeed.