“I’ve heard the rumors all around town. They say junior year is the hardest year, but I don’t see why it has to be that way. Do all juniors have a horrible time in the eleventh grade or is it just those who can’t handle the pressure? Last summer I’d been asking that question a lot and with every ex-junior, from dumb jocks to genius, I’d always get the same answer: junior year is the hardest year… over and over again.
I constantly had nightmares about being a junior. The words GPA and SAT frightened me. I couldn’t imagine myself taking all those standardized multiple-choice tests. Sophomore year was so exhausting for me that with two A.P.’s, two honors classes and dance team I could barely get six hours of sleep. Some say that I suffer from a disease called procrastination, but the reason why that year was so tiring goes way beyond that. It’s not like I was out partying. I did homework and studied for tests. But some days I had to skip doing homework for one class in order to study or do homework for another class. I was going to sleep at one or two in the morning when I started my homework at four in the afternoon! All I could do was study, study, study. I didn’t even have time to talk to my friends on the phone. I was so glad when that year was over and imagining another year twice as hard scared me to death. I wished I could just skip junior year and become a senior, but I realized that skipping my junior year was impossible so I decided to stop thinking about it and just face it.
Now I’m a junior at Beverly and trying to make the best of it. I’m involved in many extra-curricular activities like Teen Line, a teen-run hotline, which allows me to help those who are lost, or on the verge of losing hope. LA Youth gives me a way to express my feeling and opinions through writing. The Beverly High dance team lets me show off the moves I do listening to the radio in the bathroom and the basketball team enables me to put all five feet, nine and a quarter inches of me to good use. Maybe I’m in over my head but all of these activities are a good break from studying and help me to get my mind off the pressures of school. It’s fun to meet and interact with so many different people.
My family doesn’t understand that I need time to study
When I finally get home, I have to deal with my little brother calling me a bad sister because I never have time to play with him and my parents calling me mean because I ask them to shut the door after they leave the room. All I want is peace and quiet so I can finish my homework and have some spare time to spend with them but they just don’t seem to understand. They think I’m the meanest person on earth, but I’m just trying to do my best. I’m trying to go against what everyone else has said and make my junior year the best year instead of the worst. I still have advanced placement and honors classes so, of course, I’m still loaded down with homework. Even on days when I think I don’t have a lot to do I usually have some reading to catch up on or some studying to do. But I’ve decided to stop complaining and work through this year one day at a time. It takes a lot of effort but I know I can get through it successfully. I’ve realized that the two most important things to do this year are to stay focused and have fun.”