Hi! I'm Joelle Graves, a senior at Clarkston High School and have been attending Clarkston since freshman year. Clarkston was my 10th school and I lost count of how many moves I've made. When people look at me I think they see just a normal 17 year old, obnoxious, and nice girl. Not that there's anything wrong with that! But that is simply the surface level of who I really am. I've gone through lots of hardships in my life (constantly moving and changing schools should've given you a clue there), but I refuse to let my hardships defy who I am. They are simply situations happened to me, they didn't defy me. On April 9th 2009, my best friend, my care giver, my Mom, decided to 'go pay the phone bill', and I haven't seen her since. Thankfully I was blessed to have such a great Dad, who refused to have me stay anywhere else for the remainder of my high school career, along with promising no more moving. I could go on for hours playing the pity card and spilling out all my stories, but like I said, they are simply situations, they aren't who I really am. So who am I? I'm a 17 year old girl who's obsessed with making people laugh, being myself, and working out. I enjoy spending time with family and friends, and I believe that YOU are in charge of YOUR own happiness, so why waste ANY time being anything but happy?