The Difficulty of Being a Junior

When I was younger, I used to fantasize about my life in high school. Adult’s stories of their experiences were forced into my brain, making me believe that this would be everything I have always wanted. However, once I entered high school, the hidden elements that were associated with it started to creep into the picture.

I have always known that school was a very time consuming factor that every kid had to go through for 12+ years. Throughout elementary and middle school, I enjoyed waking up and seeing my friends in what juniors would now call a dungeon. Even though I was given work every day to do, my life was never fully consumed by the never-ending workload that some teachers labeled as ‘easy.’ Once I stepped into high school, the whole vibe of the environment had changed. Words like ‘college’ and ‘jobs’ circulated through the halls of the building. It was then at this point that I realized high school had a very different dynamic than what I had previously experienced.

I am now a junior in high school and I can say with one hundred percent certainty that I have never been so apprehensive about my life. Not only is school a worrisome thing in my life, but also SATs, college, occupations, and even the experience of becoming an adult with new responsibilities. These ideas flow through my mind every day. I constantly am stressing over when I should be doing things so that I can have a successful life from school, the norm that every kid is taught.

Another factor that makes this experience even worse is the pandemic. School can be hard enough with its challenging learning process, but now, I don’t even have a direct stable contact to my teachers when I need help. That’s the purpose of school, right? When we don’t understand a topic, we ask questions to get a better grasp on it. No, not when it comes to the deadly pandemic of 2020. This promise of aid when we need it has been ripped away from us by receiving limited face-to-face contact with our teachers. There have already been countless times where I have needed help on a topic and have waited days for the answer. It does me no good when I finally receive the email after I have already submitted a big test or project. This is not the teacher’s fault however. They have a lot on their plate as well with getting things done with limited time, another thing the pandemic has kindly given us.

We are brought up to believe that kids go to school, then college, and then receive a job to sustain their life. This is not the only option though. However, this is the only option that we as kids have been presented with. I feel many school systems have placed the belief on young adults that college is a necessity for achieving your hopes and dreams. While college is an important step in people’s lives, it’s not for everyone. This is one of the hardest elements I feel juniors have to think about. What do we want to do with our lives? How do we go about achieving it? I know for sure that I don’t have my answer yet and I have a feeling I’m not the only one.