You have nine months to become a professional juggler.  Ready.  Set.  Go.

This is how senior year has felt for me so far.  Balancing between school, sports, work, college, and somewhere in there, my sanity, my life feels like a juggling act.  Going into senior year I was told it would be the best year ever by parents, teachers, and alumni. I was told you don’t really have to do anything, and teachers don’t really care anymore.  These all turned out to be lies.  No one prepared me for what I would have to deal with this year.

I’m sure every senior reading this right now is empathizing with me, but I am also positive all of the freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and possibly even teachers are reading this and going,
“Why is she whining and being over-dramatic?  Senior year is awesome.”

Well in order to help everyone understand how I’m not just being dramatic, I’ve made a schedule that showcases my average Monday this year.

Monday:

6:30 am- Wake up and think about all of the things that I have to do today, and the things that I just won’t have time to do and can be pushed off until another day (or maybe next week).

8:00 am-2:40 pm- Go to my six classes that I still have (because it is a lie that seniors only have two classes a day).  Also, try and find time in my off mods to do some of my homework because I have to do college applications every night.

2:40-4:30 pm- Basketball practice.

4:30-8:30 pm- Work at my minimum wage job, and while I’m scraping the grease off of the
hot dog machine, worry about how I will have time to finish all of my homework.

8:30-11:30 pm- Get all of my homework done, and try to gather up enough energy to do some
of my college applications.

11:30 pm- Lie in bed and think about everything that I have to do tomorrow, because I
didn’t have time to do it today.

I’m not saying that senior year isn’t fun. It’s just very stressful.  I can’t spontaneously hang out with my friends anymore.  I need to know at least two weeks ahead of time so I can schedule them in.
Sometimes I feel like I need an assistant.  Someone to tell me, “Amanda, your James Madison application is due next Monday, and you are going to the movies on Friday with your friends.”

JC should do a better job helping us out through this stage.  My recommendation is to make “senior project” for the first two months of school “everyone finish your college applications class.”  Put two guidance counselors in the room with us so we can ask them questions right then and there, and we don’t have to email them and schedule a time to meet with them.  I think that this will help to reduce some of the seniors’ stress.

I also feel that for the first two months of school, teachers should lay off a bit on homework.  I’m not saying to assign no homework.  I think that they should just assign a little bit less of it.  Maybe fewer  research papers because I already have to research and find my future career and college.

One of my main concerns right now is homework vs. college applications.  I shouldn’t have to choose between them because they are both important.  Homework is important because it affects my
grades, and college applications are important because they affect the rest of my life.

The good news is senior year will get better.  In the meantime, seniors, remember to enjoy it and make time to do something fun because we deserve it. And freshmen, sophomores, and juniors remember this is what you have to look forward to.