To the Class of 2020
This March-May was full of senior sessions... until it wasn't. As schools shut down early, and in-home orders were put into place, sessions were cancelled. While I know that these seniors have four years of memories saved to their camera roll, I felt sad that they didn't get the chance to top off those memories with photos from a celebratory graduation week. I am sorry to the Class of 2020 that you didn't get to go out the bang you deserved, but I felt a little bit of comfort having the opportunity to celebrate with a few of you by taking your senior photos.
When Lauren reached out to me about shooting their senior photos, I was SO EXCITED! I got to grow up with these girls! I was there when we played in the neighborhood with their brothers, a senior losing to them in cross country races, and getting shown up by them on the lacrosse field. We even cleaned tables together while working at the Retirement home! Catherine and I could not wait to see and celebrate these hard-working college grads! Aside from beginning the shoot in my glasses, the most difficult part of the shoot was not hugging them off the ground!
I met Caroline when I was a senior in High School. She was the tall glass of water showing up all us seniors on the lacrosse field. A hard worker in school, athletics, and life. She's a gem! I can never say enough great things about her and her family!
Long story short, Lauren and her younger brother, Alex are the younger siblings I never had. As her brother's friend, I basically grew up at the Kelly house. We got to do cross country and lacrosse together in high school. Plus, she also worked with Caroline and me at the Foxdale dining room in College! I was so excited to learn about her future plans to attend graduate school in California! UGH! She's going to do amazing!
I met Casey through Lauren's family! Casey was their neighbor, and another frequent guest at the Kelly house. I remember Casey and Lauren playing together when Andrew and I would meet up with Casey's older brothers to play in their neighborhood drainage hole. Casey's laugh was EVERYTHING at this session! Casey also went out of her way to get our email to thank us after the session! She really has a heart of gold.
I had known of Liz through Lauren and through her sister (we took Latin I together!). To be honest, I totally forgot we didn't already know each other, and I forgot to introduce myself in the beginning of the session! Luckily, Liz made sure to introduce herself. Lo seinto, love! I loved finally getting to meet her in person! Liz is not only super sweet, but she had us laughing the whole session!
This is Natasha! Remember in the beginning of the blog how I mentioned getting shown up my the freshmen on our high school cross country team? Natasha lead that pact! To no ones surprise, she continued her running career for Penn State on the cross country and track and field teams! Such a talented girl with a beautiful personality!
When I met these girls in High School, I remember talking to the other seniors on our sport teams, and discussing how these freshmen were so pretty?! We would crack ourselves up questioning if we looked that pretty when we entered high school. Only in our dreams hahaha
Liz, Casey, Caroline, Lauren, and Natasha, thank you for letting us op off your time at Penn State with a senior portrait session. We loved spending this time with you!! You all have such infectious smiles and laughs. I hope you never stop lifting and hyping each other up. I cannot wait to see where life takes you next, but I have no doubt that the future will be promising for each one of you. Saying how proud of you we are doesn't begin to cover how we feel. Love you all tons!! Congratulations to you all and your 2020 class!
LOVE!!
Samantha and Catherine
