Dear Pitman, I write about the…
Truth about the Junior Year…
You’re either fifteen going onto sixteen, or sixteen going onto seventeen. You’re either panicking about how junior year is decisive, or you’re lying down low waiting for your senior year to come by and to finally and finally get on the “college stuff”. You’re tackling for the first time extracurriculars that you never bothered to take part of your freshman/ sophomore years, you’re continuing with the extracirriculars that you have been a part of for a while now, or trying something new, hating it or getting lazy about it and, overall, dumping it for the “Senior To- Do List”… and so on and so forth.
The truth is that at this time of one’s life, unless you have a secure fortune-telling device, have started planning for adulthood at a much earlier age, or have supposed, exact plans that are to function no matter what ( which unfortunately is not a reality in life), you’re still figuring life out. You’re still “getting it right”, or even completely falling from grace. You’re seeing life a bit more clearly; you’re getting an idea of what awaits you in the future, in the world outside the boundaries of your home, town, and school. You’re developing.
So how is it that at such an early stage of development one may be expected to “go at it”? It can be difficult, no doubt, that at a time when you don’t know with exactitude who you truly are, sometimes where your potential may take you, you have to already make a plan for life, for college, for trades/ vocations, for majors. It may feel forced, insecure, like too much pressure and too big a world to absorb, and on top of that, there are those financial issues, at times, those family/ friend problems.
Dear Junior, you are not alone in this; it’s understandable that being a teenager of the twenty-first century can become more exhausting than ever. There is much more competition in higher education, in jobs/ employment, in careers. There is more “drama” and “pressure” within the high school walls. There seems to be fewer prospects in the surrounding area. And of course, family and economic problems are not the least common in the era we live in, and frequently, these types of personal issues can truly weaken the individual.
It’s exhausting. It’s only summed up, for if we were to go into detail, there could be infinite pages of what the life of the average high school student holds.
So, here is the thing: no matter how many times a counselor comes into our English class to ask what our plans for the future are and give us websites as resources, no matter sometimes how well our counselor, friends, family, and teachers, may think they know you, no matter how many times you are reminded of the importance of junior year or you’re hassled into looking at the famous Fastweb, the Common App, college prompts, or even something such as what major fits you, it doesn’t leave life clear for the Junior.
I ask, “Have you begun looking at scholarships and college applications?” The typical responses will range from “heck no” to “I was planning to get on it soon.” I ask, “Do you know what you want to be?” I get varied responses and names of different professions, responses and names, which, for the most part, change within months, especially during the college application experience during senior year. I can hear my teacher’s word clearly no, “These kids come telling me that they want to become doctors and engineers and a whole lot of other things. And I look at them and I don’t want to discourage them, only make them stronger, but inside I know how tough it really is out there in the field. And I know that most of these kids don’t understand what it takes to get there, and sometimes I know that unfortunately they don’t have what it may take to make it and graduate in the fields that they say they want to take on. They simply are not prepared.”
Unfortunately, even though everyone wishes to understand the human condition, it is true that preparation is majorly weak during the high school junior year, for one reason or another. Insecurity about life are at a maximum at this stage, but here are the “things” I want my dear Juniors to understand at this stage of life:
- If you’re feeling lost, trust me you are not alone!
- Life is not predictable! The truth is, you didn’t know what your life would be like when you were younger, and that you’re older, you are still barley trying to get the hang of it. This aspect of life never changes. If you want to know something, even the adults you see going about with apparent security and stability don’t necessarily “have it in the bag”. Life always brings this or that, and constantly obstacles have to be faced and overcome, and you can hope for an outcome, but you simply never know…
So, no, there are no guarantees or easy ways out, but here’s something to take Juniors: always push forward, don’t get lazy and miss the opportunity to prepare and achieve when you have it. In the end, it’s always the ones who push through difficulties and hardships and don’t give up on it, that somehow find a way, that somehow figure themselves and life out, that achieve greatness. Don’t ever give up on yourself!
