Part of graduating into the junior year is about getting older and closer to graduation, college, and your dream job.

It is the year college admissions offices are most focused on.

The year that decides your future.

I am looking forward to junior year and have high expectations for myself. There is a lot of pressure put on me to do my best, but that pressure is only from myself and not anyone else. 

Junior year is supposedly the hardest year for a high school student. Usually, a student packs on multiple AP courses to boost their GPA instead of scheduling classes they would enjoy. Junior year is also the year lots of previously unavailable electives become available to students. 

Junior year is the stepping stone to my future. I strongly believe that the classes I chose will allow me to enjoy school fully. COVID will hopefully be a minor issue compared to how it has been in the past few months to years.

Some people don’t enjoy getting older or going into a new year, but it’s like having a fresh start. I can start over again with a new mindset and a new schedule that will hopefully exceed my expectations. 

I may get stressed or get overwhelmed, but I have scheduled classes and extracurriculars which can buffer these emotions. I feel like I am prepared and ready for the upcoming year. 

There is one thing I am not looking forward to which is that I may not have any classes with any of my friends. Having friends in a class is helpful for my learning experience and helps me feel more comfortable in a new environment. Without this buffer, the beginning of junior year may be a bumpy ride.

A big bonus that is helping me look forward to junior year is that I have finished all my required math courses, so the main subject that I have to focus on is science. This is exciting since most of my studying and stress comes from math. 

I have scheduled a pottery class to buffer anything negative and help me destress. I have always enjoyed the arts. I have not been able to take any art classes since the start of high school, so I am looking forward to it. Currently, there are so many things for me to look forward to and the negatives are not as vast.