While most high school seniors are getting ready for prom and graduation, Lauren Alaina was hitting the road performing for thousands of fans each night, followed by an intense study session. The energetic 18-year-old recently graduated from Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School, and she says it tops the list of all of her accomplishments so far, even when she’d get frustrated at being the only one on the road who had homework after the show.

“When you work so hard to make some things happen…right ‘til the last day, I was worried that I wasn’t going to get everything finished and turned in. And I did, and it was like, ‘[heavy sigh] I did it!,’” says Lauren. “It’s not easy when you’re 16, 17, 18 years old, and you’re on the road touring with Jason Aldean, Sugarland and Luke Bryan. And then when everyone else would finish up the shows and do whatever they wanted to do, I was on the bus doing school work. That’s not fun. When it was that final day and I walked across that stage, it was the best feeling in the world.”

Lauren has hit the country charts with “Barefoot and Buckwild,” the first single from her forthcoming album.

Lauren Alaina (graduating) OC: …in the world. :51
“I have accomplished so much in the past two years that have meant so much to me, but graduating, it’s at the top of the list! It was an accomplishment that I wasn’t sure I was going to make, and when you work so hard to make some things happen…right ‘til the last day, I was worried that I wasn’t going to get everything finished and turned in. And I did, and it was like, ‘[heavy sigh] I did it!’ ‘Cause there were days where I was like, ‘I’ll just get my GED. It’s fine.’ I’d get so frustrated. It’s not easy when you’re 16, 17, 18 years old, and you’re on the road touring with Jason Aldean, Sugarland and Luke Bryan. And then when everyone else would finish up the shows and do whatever they wanted to do, I was on the bus doing homework. That’s not fun. When it was that final day and I walked across that stage, it was the best feeling in the world.”