College Decisions

Sarah (Class of 2012)


After submitting my first application on November 1st, I completed my college application process yesterday when I committed to Davidson College, a small, liberal arts college in North Carolina.  The time-consuming process started for me when I visited my first colleges the summer before my junior year.  Almost two years later, I could not be happier.  My classmates, whom at the beginning of this year could not predict where they would be in a year, have now all committed to colleges and universities around the world!  One of my best friends, Robin, is going to spend a gap year in Kazan, Russia, attending university there before returning to Ohio State's Honors Program to study international relations.


I will be entering college as the quintessential undecided student.  Right now my interests range from international relations to foreign languages to journalism to neuroscience.  My options are completely wide open.


I have gone to CSG for the past 10 years of my life and tomorrow is my last day.  Senior year, while jumbled up with college applications, play rehearsals, after-school runs, clubs meetings, papers, tests, projects, and the longest wait of my life (January to April can seem like a very long time), truly flew by.  I spent the last three weeks in five different states, visiting my top three college choices (Vermont, North Carolina, Pennsylvania), winning top honors in a choir competition with CSG's vocal ensemble, The Grace Notes (see picture below), and finishing my courses for the year.

The Grace Notes before performing in Chicago's Orchestra Hall

My favorite part of this time in the college process is the college map.  The college counselors Ms. Shipps and Ms. Schultz put up a map of all the college in the U.S. where each senior puts a small tack and connects her name to her college.  I just love looking at the board and seeing where all of my friends will be next year.  Our class is the closest it's been all year and I am sad to leave.  


At the same time, I cannot wait to begin my Senior May Program (a mandatory 3 1/2 week project) with Pistacia Vera, a local patisserie, on Monday!  My friends' May Programs are taking them all around Columbus and the world.  They are studying  ayurvedic medicine in India, shadowing local surgeons, interning with organizations such as the Columbus Foundation, Cheryl's (of Cheryl's Cookies), and Ballet Met, and studying architecture in Rome and Paris.  Once we all complete our projects, we come back to school the week before graduation and present them to the Upper School.  I cannot wait to try something completely new that I may never have the chance to do again in my life.  Just one more beginning in this, the season of endings and beginnings.

Radium Girls

by Sarah (Class of 2012)

Tomorrow is opening night for Radium Girls, my eighth and final CSG theater production.  

To quote my friend Victoria, Radium Girls follows the stories of a few young women who file suit against the U.S. Radium Corporation, as radium goes from a miracle discovery to a cancerous nightmare. It portrays all sides of the story, from the young dial painters ingesting radium through the paint, to the powerful businessmen trying to avoid financial ruin.

Check out our video for the show!

The show calls for as few as 9 and as many as 36 actors.  This production we have five boys from Bexley, St. Charles, and Metro who fulfill some of the male roles.  Everyone except for the lead role is double, triple, or quadruple cast.  I play Mrs. Roeder, the wife of the president of the U.S. Radium Corporation, and Ms. Berry, the attorney prosecuting U.S. Radium Corporation -- two diametrically opposed characters.

In order to create distinct, believable characters for our roles, we spent one entire rehearsal developing our characters.  We filled out a word document detailing both textual clues about my characters' personalities and our own imaginings for her likes, dislikes, and economic and historical background.  The play is a historical drama set in the 1920s, so we have fabulous costumes, wigs, and hats, many of which our costume crew found at vintage stores.

Second Semester Senior Year!

by Sarah (Class of 2012)

Since my last post, I finished my last college applications and am waiting to hear back from all of my schools by April 1st.  The process has been stressful, but I do not know what I would have done without our college counselors, Ms. Schipps and Ms. Schultz.  We (the CSG Thespians) wrapped a fabulous run of Leader of the Pack and now are in the midst of rehearsals for our spring production, Radium Girls.

On February 4th I performed at Ohio Music Educator's Association's (OMEA) solo and ensemble.  I sang a solo and performed with CSG's small vocal ensemble the Grace Notes.  Our ensemble piece was a gorgeous arrangement of How Sweet the Moonlight Sleeps.  The harmonies of the song were complex and made it an incredible challenge to learn, but our hard work paid off!  Both small groups of Grace Notes were given Superior ratings.  We are definitely taking this song with us on our tour to the Festival of Gold in Chicago in April.  I cannot wait!

That same day I attended the CSG Swimming and Diving senior night with my fellow bloggers Madeleine and Bridget!  I loved being there to support my classmates and get into the CSG spirit.