Michelle Bergh

I did on-line school for my junior and senior years of high school to allow me to take Post-Secondary School Option (PSEO) courses in music as well as some multi-week performance and other intensive courses.  It also allowed me to have more time to work on and record music and accept more acting, modeling and other opportunities.

Some of the things I miss about going to a "regular" high school, besides the students,  include the many clubs and events.  I especially enjoyed Student Council and Key Club.  I was on Student Council every year since 5th grade, and I was honored to have been elected to some of the leadership positions.  The leadership positions I held included serving as Treasurer, Senator, and my last year on Student Council - as President!

With my strong focus on volunteerism, you can imagine that I pushed for so many school volunteer projects.  It seemed we were constantly working on something.  I'm not even going to begin to talk about all of the countless things we organized and put on at school, because it would take another website, but many were oriented towards volunteerism.  

But since my platform is breast cancer awareness/Susan G. Komen, I do want to share that I was able to initiate a "Pink Out Day" at our school in October.  That was truly an effort to initiate because our school principal kept saying no to the idea.  

October is breast cancer awareness month, and the principal thought we had too many other activities going on that month because of the many homecoming and other events we were planning.  However, I was vey persistent and met with him privately after he said no so that I could explain how important the awareness was for the students, given that it affects 1 in 8 women in their lifetimes and can also affect men.  I also pointed out several students who I knew who had mothers who had struggled with the disease.    

I'm happy to say, he finally relented!  I brought in a variety of brochures from Komen, and our student council decorated a table and brought in pink cup cakes and candy to attract the kids.  We had a donation bowl available for kids to leave donations for Komen.   The table was such a success, and we were constantly replenishing the items (especially the food!).