Junior year is the year before students make all of their important life decisions; their college, major, and every other important choice that comes with being an adult. In the eyes of a junior, senior year seems like an approaching hurricane mixed with a tsunami, with a pinch of an earthquake.
Most juniors expect the disaster of the next year, but they pretend they have eons before it becomes a real issue. They just relax in the calm before the storm. In reality calm is just a relative term, junior year is still extremely hectic.
Preet Johal, a senior, explained “Senior year is the best year of high school, but its stressful applying for college and dealing with all the work that comes with it. By comparison junior year is not that hectic.”
Some days juniors spend their days sitting in class, absent mindedly listening to teachers lecture about war hawks, the quadratic formula, rhetoric, and homeostasis. They hear the click, click, click of a classmate’s pen while daydreaming.
Simarjit Kaur, a junior, stated “Sometimes I try to pay attention in class but my mind just wanders off, which is unfortunate because I will most likely need to know the information in the future.”
Afternoons and evenings consist of students toiling over hours upon hours of homework and stressing about upcoming tests. A few of these students stay up into the wee hours of the morning in order to cram for a big test or complete and important assignment. Even if juniors don’t deal with the stress that seniors do, they know that work done during this time will contribute to our futures, both near and distant.
Applications, acceptance, SATs, ACTs, essays, preparation; basically anything to do with college is in the back of a juniors mind, only one year remains between us and the “real world.” AP classes are taken by students that want to earn credits for college; these classes can add extra stress and work onto an already difficult year.
Luckily not all of junior year is busy and maddening. Weekends are usually a time for students to relax, if they are not saddled with an enormous amount of homework. Some students spend a majority of the day sleeping. Others take advantage of the fact that they have finally gotten their licenses; going to the movies, out to dinner, or just spending time with friends around town are popular activities.
Besides the fact that junior year is hectic, it is an enjoyable experience. Being an upper-classmen has its perks and many are more comfortable around school as they grow older. Hopefully after all of their hard work they will look back fondly at their junior year and remember all of the moments that occurred.
