07 Jun Junior Year Can Be ‘Dreadful and Tiring,’ But I Wouldn’t Change a Thing

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Editor’s note: After seeing a column in the L.A. Times by the parent of a teenager that claims “junior year is the worst,” we wanted to hear how actual juniors feel about their second-to-last year of high school. The author wrote this as a junior this past school year at Kennedy High School in Richmond.

Commentary, Lourdes Mendoza Ramos

As I came to the end of this school year, I could say that my experience as a junior has been very different — academically and socially — than my freshman and sophomore years.

For the past two years, I didn’t have access to AP classes, so this year I took advantage and took four: AP Environmental Science, AP English Language, AP US History, and AP Spanish Language. Starting the year off, I quickly had to learn to adapt to a larger workload and more enforced due dates. Throughout, I learned to have better time management because I always had so much work to do for each class. I had quizzes, readings and essays to get done ever week. This was something I hadn’t been used to because from elementary school until this school year, I barely had homework, and if something did have to be done, I could quickly do it in class.

So junior year was the first year I had to learn to study. I dedicated hours after school to finish homework after also having internships and clubs. I’ve had a dreadful and tiring schedule. I would stay up late reading and feel sleepy during class in the morning.

I would have loved to be a teacher’s assistant, but not having a first period really saved me and let me rest for some extra hours during the week, which I needed.

Another one of the biggest challenges I faced my junior year was having to learn and accept that my grades won’t always be perfect and I won’t always achieve the highest score — sometimes tests are just not built that way. It was difficult for me because I have always been a straight-A student. Accepting anything lower made me lose self-value and made me feel like a failure. However, knowing I will continue my education after high school and face more experiences in life where results won’t work out how I want, I believe it was something valuable to learn, but this never stopped me from trying to achieve the best I can.

>>>Read: They Were Right, Junior Year Sucks

Junior year is definitely one of the most stressful and important years; however, I would need to experience senior year before deciding if it’s the worst. I think senior year will be the same as junior year except at the same time you also have college applications and FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) to fill out while your life, classes and extracurriculars continue. The stress of writing good enough PIQs (personal insight questions) for UCs and then waiting to see if I got accepted to my dream school would stress me out the most, and I think that’s where my future would change the most.

It’s stressful knowing that the actions you take this year can greatly impact your future.

After high school, I definitely would be interested in a STEM career in engineering or technology. To prepare, I’ve taken advantage of the Information Technology Academy at my school and been introduced to Adobe Illustrator, videography and various coding languages like C++, HTML and CSS. I’ve also joined college programs like Mills College Upward Bound. I took a robotics class during the summer and won a competition. I took computer information systems 101 and extra coding classes. Due to my area and being low-income, it has been difficult to find opportunities that can help me extend my knowledge in STEM. I’ve felt limited in the options around me. I’ve done the best I could at preparing, taking college classes and taking on any technology-related opportunity I found on the way.

I think I’ve made a good decision by always focusing on my education as I’m ranked No. 1 in my class as I write this. I believe it gives me the opportunity to have many options in the future with networking and building off those different experiences. It’s a big decision, deciding my career and what I would like to do in the future, but I think technology is what I’m most passionate about, with art as a side hobby.

I’ve yet to figure out what I will major in when I get to college, but I know it will be technology-related. One of my worries is that I fear Kennedy hasn’t prepared me enough for what’s to come. I know it’ll be a big step from here to college classes. I feel intimidated, thinking I lack experience and won’t be able to handle it. In the end, though, I think my hard work and motivation will pay off. As a junior, I’ve grown more as a person, gained experience, and networked with new people. I don’t think I have any regrets, and I wouldn’t change anything.