“She has fire in her soul and grace in her heart”

Taking this senior’s photo by this beautiful mural wall with these inspiring words has never been so fitting.  Meet the graceful, sweet, radiant, talented, (girl with the cutest giggle) quiet at first, but then funny and goofy when you break down the walls, Class of 2020 senior from Pekin High School, Jenna Martin!!  She has a smile that completely melts this photographer’s soul!   Happy 18th Birthday weekend by the way Jenna!!  You are loved!!

After high school, Jenna plans on attending SIUE to major in pharmacy. When she was little, she always dreamed of being a dance. In school, she participated on the dance team, soccer team and she is a Student Ambassador and Dragon Day Leader. Outside of school, she is a lifeguard in the summer and she dances competitively all year round. Capturing her grace as a dancer during her senior pictures was amazing!  Jenna also volunteers as a student representative o the YWCA board in Pekin.  Here’s some great advice that she would give to incoming freshman: “Grades are soo important! But never at the expense of your mental health and well-being! And don’t forget to have fun!!”

Her favorite teacher is Mr. Woodring because he has been the most enlightening teacher she has ever had.  “His class was eye-opening and fun to participate in. My favorite class is anything math related because it’s always stress-free and comes so easily to me.” Her hobbies include “basically dancing all of the time, but when I have free time, I enjoy hanging out with friends, listening to music, and eating ice cream!”

Three things on her bucket list include 1. Going to a different country 2. Run a marathon 3. Live to be 100!

I have many heroes that I look up to in different ways. My heroes are my parents because they inspire me everyday to work hard. My grandparents are my heroes because they show me how important faith is and give me an example to follow.

Moments she is most proud of are as a dancer. “I’m very hard on myself and performances are a very stressful part of the year. In the dancing world, it is known that “there is no such thing as a perfect performance” which makes less daunting and easier to accept any mistakes you make. The moments I’m most proud of are the few times that I have gone on stage to perform and came off feeling really great about how I did despite the mistakes I made.”

FOOD and FAMILY:

1. The most unusual thing I have ever eaten is potato chips with chocolate pudding – (note to self….that sounds delicious actual)
2. My grandma makes the BEST butterscotch chip cookies and they’re my favorite because they’re not something that a lot of people make.
3. One of my favorite childhood memories is what I would always call the “magic kitchen”. When I was younger I had a Fisher-Price toy kitchen that was about the same size as I was. It was in my garage and I would play with this thing nearly every day. One day I had the bright idea to put leaves from the yard in the oven of the toy kitchen. I set the timer to 20 minutes even though I had absolutely no perception of time. Periodically, I would check on the leaves to see if they had turned into anything new and my parents thought this would be a great time to fuel my imagination. After what ended up being a couple days my parents reminded me to check the toy oven and to my surprise there was a warm plate of chocolate chip cookies. My mind was blown. Unfortunately for my parents this game wasn’t over and they had to make unexpected trips to the store to buy mini pies, cookies, and cupcakes and the drop of a hat until my fascination with my magic kitchen had ceased. Aren’t they sweet!
4. My favorite family trip was last summer to Destin. It was my first time to the ocean and I loved it so much and can’t wait to go back again this summer!
5. Favorite holiday tradition: My dad brings out his old radio and turns on the station that plays Christmas music 24/7 so there’s always Christmas music playing at our house. Also, my parents my brother and I have gone through the Festival of Lights in East Peoria for almost 10 years in a row. We put on our pajamas and get hot chocolate
6. If I could eat only one meal for the rest of my life, it would be fruit salad!

RANDOM:

1. Billie Eillish is my favorite artist!
2. I have 3 cousins named Amanda
3. My current favorite fashion trend: I love cute small jewelry like little gold chokers, dainty rings, earring sets. I LOVE the light-wash ripped mom jean trend as well as the bigger jean shorts with the tie belt but I’m not confident wearing them/don’t know if I like them on me for sure.
4. Favorite color to wear: I wear a lot of pink, black, white, gray. I’m comfortable with it so that’s what I typically buy. I really want to get out of my comfort zone though!
5. Usual school style: It’s a very wide range! Some days it’s leggings, oversized sweatshirt, and a messy bun but other days it’s jeans, a cute tank, and a cardigan!
6. My “perfect day” would be waking up on the beach, being with my family, and enjoying the surf and sun all day long!
7. The most daring thing I have ever done is sleeping past 10:00 am. (I’m not very daring, LOL)
8. If I could travel anywhere in the world, I would want to go to Bora Bora or somewhere tropical because I love the beach so much.
9. Why did you want to be a Shelby Senior?  Your pictures are FANTASTIC and I’ve heard so many great things about the Shelby Senior program! I love seeing everyone’s outfits as well as the cool locations that the shoots are at.