All their lives, students hear, “Just wait until senior year. It’s going to be the best year of your life!” It seems exciting and allegedly truthful to an eight-year-old or even a high school freshman. So, why does it seem like once senior year actually comes, it’s not nearly as magical as everyone proclaims it to be?
This year, student life is highly different at JC. What happened to the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? Are these changes the reason that senior year seems so much more confusing, or is it just the teachers who think we have the ability to complete five assignments in one night? The jury’s still out.
Seniors are expected to set the standards in behavior, academics, and overall standard of achievement at JC, and seniors are given privileges that other classes are not given. Despite all of this, it still seems like this year has been a sequel for “Back to the Future.” The confusion has made senior year feel more like freshman year, and it’s hard to feel like an example for the school community amid this year’s changes.
Every teacher seems to think that “because seniors are older, they can handle it” and takes that as a free pass to assign more work that is expected to be completed on a daily basis, leaving heads spinning and thought processes reeling as senior attempt to manage the challenge of their last year of high school. Yet, despite all of these perceptions, it still feels like freshman year.
With any luck, once privileges go into effect and as Spirit Week and Prom draw nearer, the supposed excitement and thrill of being a senior will become more of a reality and less of an overrated dream. Until then, senior year will remain a slightly puzzling time, something to figure out before it can be realized for what it actually is. For now, senior year is a challenge, one that can either be ignored or embraced. If seniors put in hard work into their last year of high school, it’s going to be the best one yet—no magic required.
Ashley Snyder can be reached for comment at [email protected].