The Missouri Thespian Festival is one of my favorite trips in high school! My senior trip was one I will never forget and also not remember whatsoever. Let me explain...

At the annual Thespian Festival, major arts programs come from all over to watch college auditions. College auditions are a rigorous process and are even more difficult than college sports recruitment.

If you know at all about college auditions, these auditions are like a small scale Unifieds. However, instead of several auditions, it is a single audition in front of over 30 colleges.

The conference is held in downtown Kansas City, always in the month of January. My high school (Strafford High) always had the opportunity to attend this conference!

Prior to this trip, I had gone on a family cruise for Christmas break and was feeling lousy on the trip home. The day after I got back from vacation, I had to leave for the trip to Kansas City!

I felt very horrible on the whole trip. Only thinking I had a bug, I took ibuprofen constantly, took multiple vitamins, and drank tons of water. I attended limited workshops and stayed in the room to sleep if I had the opportunity. I even fell asleep during the main stage show which I always look forward to watching!

Day three of the conference is college audition day. This was a huge opportunity for me because my top choice of colleges were there. I was so excited for this day!

The conference so far was not a pleasant experience for me. I had been sick and feeling terrible the whole time. I had also had the smell of death on me that I could not get rid of no matter how much I brushed my teeth and put on perfume. Lousy times.

The morning of my audition, I got up late and did not attend any workshops. My friend Moo and I went to college row to explore a bit before my audition time. Afterwards, we went back to the room for me to warm up my voice.

I practiced my intro, monologue, and song multiple times, raising my confidence despite my constant pain. My throat was raw, I couldn't think straight because my head was fuzzy, I was exhausted from doing absolutely nothing, and I was in so much physical and mental pain. I am used to to powering through.

I was so very excited for my audition I could hardly stand it! I have trained my brain to get ecstatic for anything I audition for, this way I am excited and not terrified.

My name is called and I cannot contain my smile that spreads from ear to ear. I confidently walk to the front of the room and begin my audition. I had a stage and everything!

That audition was probably the best audition of my entire life. Through my audition, I got a callback by almost every single college that attended the conference.

After my audition, we quickly had to leave the conference due to a snow storm coming in quickly. On the ride home, we made a couple of stops where I hurled everything I had left in my tummy. I tried to sleep but had lucid dreams and still smelled like death.

When we got back into town, it is was very late and our power was out due to a tornado. When I got home, I collapsed on my floor and cried. My exhaustion and sickness had finally caught up to me and I could no longer keep myself upright.

After I got home, I was diagnosed with mono and slept for nine days straight. When my mom later tried to ask me about the trip, I could recall little to no details about the trip.

Even though I was in excruciating pain and had one of the hardest times of my life, I appreciated this experience very much. It helped me discover that through no matter, what I can persevere.