A Semester of Reflections

Column: The Root of It All

A+Semester+of+Reflections

Maddie Root, Managing Editor

Throughout my high school career, I have always heard that junior year was the most difficult. At the beginning of the school year, I was skeptical. How could one year of high school be so hard? Now that I am living it, I finally understand why students say junior year is the hardest.

Just about a month ago, we all completed the first semester of the 2021-2022 school year. It was bittersweet. I was proud of myself for making in through half of the year; however, the realization that I only have three more semesters left of high school also kicked in.
Now that first semester is long gone, I’ve had a chance to reflect on the first half of my junior year.
This semester, I was forced to leave behind some of my old habits from freshman and sophomore years. I could not stay up late to study the night before a test, and instead I had to spread my time studying out over a few days. I also learned that it was impossible to keep up on my work if I did not write stuff down. After a few NTIs in the gradebook, I decided that it was time to invest in a notebook.
Searching for colleges also added another layer of stress to my first semester. In the beginning, I had no idea where to start looking. I already felt like I was too busy with schoolwork, and I did not feel like thinking about something that seemed so far away.
Searching for colleges helped me realize that the last three years have flown by during my time at JC.
I have now realized why students say junior year is the hardest. Sure, school assignments are difficult, but I think that the stress of the unknown adds onto the stress of assignments and other schoolwork. The unknown is what makes junior year so unique yet so stressful for students.
As difficult as junior year has been, it has taught me the most out of my three years at JC. Even though I am constantly stressed about school, assignments, college, and my future, I have done a lot of growing up and maturing in the last six months.
Since the pandemic, this is the first normal school year I have had. The “normalness” of this year has forced me to open my eyes and embrace the chaos of junior year.