Jurnee Carr - Homecoming Tips

It’s basketball season and time for homecoming! Homecoming is an exciting experience to be a part of; what makes it special is that your classmates select you to represent them! For my school, 2 freshman, sophomore, and junior couples are picked, along with 5 senior couples. I was so honored to be chosen as 1 out of 2 girls to represent the junior class at my school! Here are some tips from my experience being in homecoming court that will hopefully help you have a successful homecoming!


• During homecoming week at my school, we have different themes. For example, we had tacky day, 80s day, formal day, favorite jersey day, and school colors day.


   


Show your school spirit by dressing up! It’s not every day you get to go crazy with your wardrobe!

 
• The day of homecoming, it’s best to dress semi-formally. Look the part and represent your class with…class!

• Coordinate with your escort ahead of time if you want his tie to match your dress.

• Usually homecoming is during a basketball game. Arrive early to support your team! And stay after your presentation to support the next game! (You can always change into more comfortable clothes or rock your dress all night!)

• If you are chosen queen, celebrate! Your class chose YOU to be their queen! This is a huge honor! If you are chosen as runner-up, congratulate the new queen! This is her moment too-jealousy is not something you want people to remember you by.

• Take lots of silly pictures! Remember, this is a fun time and you want to remember it with joy.

• After the final game, my school has a dance. If your school does, I encourage you to go have fun with your friends and enjoy your night! Dance and bust a move!

• Also, make sure you bring a coat. Homecoming is usually in the cold winter months, and wearing a dress outside can be very uncomfortable! Also, a change of flats wouldn’t hurt either!




We took all kinds of crazy photos!





My escort and I did a “signature move”!







2011 Homecoming Queen-Sterlin Elliot!


I had such a blast during homecoming week! I hope you enjoy yours too! Make the most of it, and remember, whether you’re chosen homecoming queen or not, the real queen is crowned on the inside.

Princess Closet Needs Your Vote!

Vote for the Princess Closet (vote once a day until December 19) to win free professional time of SJG's public relations or creative marketing services! Winners will be announced the week of January 2. Go to http://www.sjadv.com/30celebration/vote.php?cookies=true&clientid=40x

To help make prom a reality for Chicago area students, Reina Santiago, who is an Interactive Designer at the Redbox office in Oakbrook, organized a dress drive to benefit the Princess Closet

The event started with a kick-off on Monday, Oct 10th, and a subsequent drive on Oct 20th, during the lunch period. The first twenty donors received a copy of the book "Anti-Prom" on behalf of the Princess Closet. The event was a tremendous success. 100 dresses were donated for this prom season. It is people like Reina who make attending prom dreams come true for high school girls! If you are interested in hosting a dress drive or fundraiser on behalf of the Princess Closet, please contact Maria Davalos at 312-203-5392 or princess.closet@live.com. More information on the organization can be found at www.princess-closet.org

LATINO FASHION WEEK- TEEN/FAMILY NIGHT

Join us at Latino Fashion Week - Teen/Family Night on Thursday, Nov 3, 2011 from 2pmto 9pm.  During the Expo LFW, will set-up a donation box at the Princess Closet Fashion Lounge if you would like to donate items.  We accept shoes, dresses, evening bags and Jewelry.

For vendors we also look for gift certificates, perfume, make-up, hair products, nail products, and other small items for our goodie bags. 

See you there!

The Life of A Junior by Jurnee Carr, Miss Teen International 2011

High school is such a fun time in a teenager’s life. Driving to school, cheering on your school team at Friday night basketball games, and going to prom are huge highlights! As a junior I have had an incredible 2 and a half years of enjoying high school! My high school is a little bit different than most; it’s year-round! This means that we go for 9 weeks of instructional time and have a 3 week break! Yes, I love it! I am also dual enrolled at the local university, completing college hours on top my high school credits.

My typical high school day consists of French 2 in the morning, then Advanced Algebra 2, next comes Environmental Science, and finally, U.S. History. After I am done with these classes at the high school, I venture over to the university to take English and Religion. Dual enrolling has been an incredible experience! Not only do I complete hours towards my future college degree, but I also get to meet new people and prepare myself for a real college atmosphere.

Junior year is very crucial. This is the year to start looking into colleges and thinking about what you would like to major in college. My ultimate educational goal is a Doctorate of Ministry. Needless to say, this will take a while to complete so I have begun researching all colleges that will offer the best education for this specific degree. Yes, college research is tedious, but you get to scope out the perfect college for you and discover what cool things they have to offer! Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up studying abroad in England! The possibilities are endless!

Another great aspect of high school is the countless opportunities to get involved and meet new friends! Conditioning just started for basketball, and I have had a fun time not only working on my personal and team basketball skills, but getting to know each team member a little better. My school is all about the freedom of the student body. We each have the opportunity to join as many clubs as we wish and create new clubs of our own! A friend and I started a Christian girl’s group that meets during lunch to have Bible study. Key Club is another way to get involved in the community! Also, showing your involvement in sports, clubs, and extracurricular activities stands out on college applications!

Sadly, high school is only four years. I encourage you to make the most out of every day that you spend at a desk, work diligently on your studies, and be the best you that you can be! The harder you work now, the easier it will be in your future. Four years go by fast; take it all in and make the most of it and yourself!

THE DEBUT




So…I put off writing this blog because I wasn’t sure what to say. Young women today are crazy incredible – I seriously don’t know how you do it. I only graduated five years ago but you ladies make me feel like a wimp. You have so much to worry about, so many pressures, and so many people telling you to worry about all the wrong things – I’m so amazed at how awesome and level-headed you are.



I was asked to write about the “high school experience” but if I’m being honest, high school sucked for me – until Senior year anyway. I wish I had a cool, older girlfriend that was into interesting things and could have helped pull me out of my slump earlier so that’s what I will try to be for others.



I hope you realize that you are far from alone and that no matter what anyone says, you have the power to totally transform your life into whatever you want it to be.





Listen to yourself. Seriously.

Call it intuition, your soul, your psyche – or just that annoying voice that just won’t shut up – but whatever you call it, it’s there for a reason. In ALL of us there is a whispering voice that tells us what we should be doing. Crazy, huh? Many believe that women are more in tune with this voice and I think in a lot of cases they’re right.



Sometimes stuff like Facebook and TV can gag this voice so it can’t say anything. There’s been times I’ve turned on my computer to try and write something awesome and wound up looking at some guys pics he took at a party – two years ago! Yuck. Makes me feel super lame AND mad at myself for never getting around to what I actually wanted to do! Just keep it in mind for next time…it’s crazy how many things meant to keep us in touch with others make us lose ourselves.



So, whether you love to dance, knit, or collect garden gnomes – do it and do it with all your heart. Do it like your life depends on it – in some ways it does.





Remember – this isn’t all there is!

If I had a dollar for every time someone said to me, “High school is preparing you for the real world” I could’ve paid off my car by now…well maybe filled it up with gas. But besides getting the best grades you can, making friends who care about you, and learning about yourself and your goals, the rest of high school can be about as real as Paris Hilton’s personality.



In high school if you say the wrong thing, date the wrong guy, or wear different clothes you can kiss your social life goodbye. Now with cell phones, mini cameras, and Facebook (sorry, not trying to hate on it!) your whole school can know about what happened Friday night with the click of a button. That’s awful and immature. Just remember, no matter what drama happens to you in high school you will barely remember it after. Take what happened to you and learn from it. Take the high road and keep classy. Trust me, this garbage won’t follow you into the “real world”…whatever that even means.





Go outside yourself.

Live with no fear – even if it’s just for a day. Everyone has something that they wish they would’ve done. Remember that girl that was getting bashed because of how she looked? Remember how you wanted to stick up for her? Remember that play you wanted to try out for? That charity you wanted to meet up with? That cute guy you wanted to say hey to? We all have that fear. The fear of letting our real selves shine. Do you know that the #1 human fear is public speaking and #2 is death? Whaaaat?? Seriously, it’s time to get over it. You will regret the things that you did not do way more than the things you did.





The end…for now….



I once helped another young woman that I had never met get where she needed to go. She told me this phrase, which I will end all of my writings with:



In Lak’ech



In Mayan it means “I am another yourself” or I am you and you are me. No matter how someone acts towards you whether is is beautiful, brave, kind, or even mean; remember we are all just reflections of each other :)





Peace. Love. Light.

-- Lydia James





Listening To: Norin & Rad – The Gift

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADc3YsKwjQo



Read more about In Lak’ech:

http://www.kachina.net/~alunajoy/97aug.html

Homecoming Traditions

Homecoming unites alumni, current students, teachers, coaches and the general community with annual traditions. While each school community tweaks these traditions to fit its personality, similar basic activities occur at most homecoming celebrations. It usually includes activities for students and alumni, such as sports and culture events and a parade through the streets of the city or town.


Across America, homecoming is celebrated in a variety of ways, with some common observances, and other, more unique traditions. In the current era of homecoming, the most prevalent theme is school pride and class unity. In days gone by, however, homecoming began as something just a little bit different.



The first homecoming to place the event around a central sports theme, on a college campus, was Baylor University. The very first homecoming, however, is disputed in origin. The tradition that has evolved and instituted itself firmly in UHS's history and future began as sports rivalry in either Missouri, or Illinois, possibly even as early as 1891, at state universities.

Though the rivalry for "first homecoming" is ongoing, the University of Missouri is favored by the NCAA, Jeopardy! and Trivial Pursuit as the creator of homecoming. It is said that by the 1920s, homecoming had already spread across the nation as a popular exhibition of school pride.

Originally, homecoming was precisely what the compound word indicates. When homecoming first became a tradition, it was a way to welcome alumni back, often culminating in a varsity sports game. Instead of football singularly, however, varsity sports could include basketball, or even ice hockey as well.

At UHS, even the more modern traditions include elements from older versions of homecoming celebrations. Perhaps the most prominent example of this is the Homecoming Court, which includes a King and Queen, and in many educational institutions, a Prince and Princess as well. Some of the annual activities - spirit rallies and a parade - are based almost entirely on the model created by the University of Missouri.

As per the original traditions, UHS's weeklong celebration of homecoming will culminate in a varsity football game against Santa Rosa High School. Preceding the football game is the customary parade, in which much of the community takes part.

Spirit Week

A week of school-spirit activities lead up to the football game and dance. The types of spirit activities vary but typically include dress-up days, with a different theme each day of the week. Special competitions between classes add to the atmosphere during homecoming week. A student pep rally culminates spirit week and fires up the student population for the traditional football game.

Parade

A parade through the community leads up to the football game and dance during homecoming week. Classes from the high school often collaborate to create floats or other parade entries. The football team, cheerleaders and school band typically make an appearance. Younger school students may also participate in the parade in various formats. The theme of school spirit pervades many of the parade floats. Other community organizations join the homecoming parade to show support.

Homecoming Royalty

The crowning of the homecoming king and queen highlights the festivities for the student body. The homecoming royalty candidates typically come from the senior class, with the high-school student body voting on the winners. The crowning ceremony may occur during an evening pep rally or during halftime at the homecoming football game. The crowning of king and queen is primarily ceremonial, without many actual duties associated with the position.

Football

Homecoming generally falls during football season, with a game highlighting the end of the week. The football game allows the entire community to join in support of the team and the school. Alumni frequently return to the community to enjoy the homecoming football game. Halftime showcases the homecoming royalty and the band adds additional entertainment.

Homecoming Dance

A homecoming dance also caps the week, either following the football game or on another weekend evening. The formality of the dance varies by school, ranging from a casual school dance to a formal event. The attendance of alumni at the dance also varies depending on school rules and preferences.

Getting Ready for Prom?

http://www.seventeen.com/parties/prom/countdown-to-prom

Princess Closet Boutique Sale Day Fundraiser

Chicago, IL– Ladies of all ages - join us for a Boutique Sale to benefit the Princess Closet Annual Scholarship Fund hosted by Modern Wave Salon @741 W. 26th Street, Chicago, IL 60616 on Sunday, September 25, 2011 from 10am to 3pm.


Need a special dress for the holidays, graduation, or cotillion? The Princess Closet’s Boutique Sale has your dress or gown at a very affordable price! Come join us - you can even make it a “mom and daughter” outing! All proceeds support the Princess Closet Scholarship Fund and we will also be selling evening wear if you have a special occasion to attend.

Princess Closet of Illinois grants wishes to high school young ladies by making their prom dreams a reality. In addition, we offer a scholarship to any senior young lady accepted to college for a chance at a brighter future. Since its start in 2010, more than 800 local young ladies have experienced a wish come true. For more information, visit www.princess-closet.org or contact 312-203-5392.


It takes an extraordinary person to make somebody else’s dream come true…. Come be a Fairy Godmother for a day!

Princess Closet Spa Dream Day Event - August 28, 2011

Princess Closet 2011 Dream Day Events

Here are some of the pictures for our 2011 Dream Day Events....

https://picasaweb.google.com/105749513421093199215/Apr262011?authkey=Gv1sRgCNicr4_atfqtVw&feat=directlink

Princess Closet Dream Day Events

Princess Closet Dream Day Events