Humans of Mansfield High

“I like how improv is spontaneous and it brings other people who aren't from theatre together because we have a lot of people who aren’t actually in theatre doing improv. It’s very audience based so it's a lot of interaction. I love being in front of people. I love attention, very much so. I like being able to figure out all the different characters and the intricacies of them. It feels like I’m stepping into somebody else’s shoes. I’ve always wanted to do theatre. At Roberta Tipps, every year we did these weird musicals like “Dino Stars” and “Snow Biz”. I had fun doing those and thought this was for me."

“In general the time I spent this year with my friends has been my favorite memory. I’ve gained a lot more friends than I’ve ever had in high school. Homecoming, prom this weekend, all these events I’ve gone to with my best friends have been really exciting. It’s contributed to my personal growth. I’ve never had that. It’s really nice to have that this year. I’m going to UT, Hook ‘em! I’m going to study Economics this year but transfer to Biomedical Engineering."

“My favorite memories are hanging out with my friends and my basketball games and being around my teammates. I play basketball and this year we had team dinners for every home game. Those were really fun to be around my teammates. I’m going to Cedar Valley College in Dallas to play basketball. I’m going to go into nursing."

“I think my favorite memory would be all the times I’ve shared in class with students that I'd never talked to before and became friends with them. You have your friends in class and your friends out of class. I feel like memories with them, those are in class memories, and I’m never going to see them again. But I'm always going to think back on them because ‘oh, that class was so fun because of so and so and we laughed so hard’. Just stuff like that. I feel like those would be my favorite memories. I’m going to TCC in the fall and then I’m going to transfer to UTA. I’m going to be a flight attendant."

“I know I’ll remember prom forever. It was so much fun. I feel like everyone was so happy to be there. We had a sense of this is it, we’re in this together, we’re ending this together. I loved meeting up with my friends. When we saw each other, we ran up to each other and gave each other hugs and said ‘Oh my gosh, we made it! We’re graduating!’. I’m going to UTA and I’ll be studying advertising."

“Definitely going to the football games were some of the best moments I had with my friends in high school, supporting, celebrating, and just having a good time. I’m more of a basketball guy but football is still up there in my sports list. I used to play basketball. I’m enlisted in the Marine Corps. I ship out three weeks after I graduate. I’ve been talking about it since I was a Junior. My job is aviation. After my job school, I’ll be working on planes, helicopters, all sorts of aircraft."

“My Freshman and Sophomore year, I was at Lakeridge. The most fun I had in high school was playing football there. It’s where I met most of my friends. The bonds I made with people, the exercise and discipline I was taught there made it fun. I was zoned differently to come here and there were no more buses to go to Lakeridge so I came here. All my friends from intermediate and middle school go here so it wasn’t that different. I’m involved in NHS and Black Student Association. BSA is where I met my girlfriend. I’m heading to Vassar College in New York. The goal is engineering but I’ve taken Physics for two years and it’s not really my favorite subject. I don’t really like it at all. I’m still heading down that route but I’d like to find something else to explore my first two years. I like money, math, and real estate."

“My favorite memory from high school would be my theatre classes. They’re all filled with great people and energetic. I have wonderful teachers like Mrs. Starr and Mrs. Wright, who taught me a lot about it. It really gave me a lot of confidence in school. I mostly did plays. I actually did a showcase yesterday. I was playing the role of Richard for this scene in Moon of the Buffalo. It was really interesting because that was my first performance with a bunch of people in the crowd. It was kind of nerve-wracking but I was able to get my lines down and did everything I could possibly do. I have two choices for next year. My first choice is TCC so I get my associate’s degree and then move to Midwestern State University. My second option would be either UNT or Midwestern State University for all four years. I want to study computer science with a minor in music. I like to do song writing sometimes. I think it would be beneficial to do my minor as my hobby."

“When I think back on high school I will remember the sense of community I felt. Like French, French has been so fun. We’ve been such a tight-knit community. Theater has been really fun too. The other week we had our theater banquet and that was probably one of the most fun things I’ve ever done because everyone was so nice. Everyone was hugging and crying because we’re all leaving. I thought ‘this is the most wholesome thing I have ever been privy to’. It was very heartwarming and I didn’t expect it to be. I’m going to UTA. My major is communications but I’m going into voice acting."

“My favorite high school experience was Freshman year walking down to the cafeteria and seeing all my friends waiting for me there on the first day. It was just like ‘we’re in high school now’. We were not necessarily Seniors but it was a big step in our lives. High school has not lived up to that day at all if I’m being honest. Ever since Covid, things went completely down. But I did get a lot of scholarship money and a lot of grants. I’m actually going to college paid for, my tuition is free. I’m going to UTA to study nursing, specifically NICU nursing."

“There’s been a lot of favorite moments in high school. The first one I can think of is All-State. That’s a choir thing that’s really hard to get into. It was really satisfying when I made it in and we got to go on a trip to San Antonio with some of my friends and Mr. Wright. I got to sing with a whole bunch of musicians who really care. It was really satisfying and fun to be there. I’ve always known I’ve wanted to go into music. I couldn’t decide if I would go into theatre or into music but I’m majoring in musical theatre. I didn’t choose music. I’m going to Southeast Missouri to Dobbins Conservatory.”

“My favorite high school memory was definitely doing the Chicago musical because it was a whole new experience for me. I got to do something I’ve really never done before and it turned out, I really liked it. I enjoyed the whole process of rehearsal and finally being able to do the show. It changed things for me. Now I’m going to college to do film and production at FAMU, Florida A&M. It’s a HBCU."