Junior Year is here. Hooray! We’re upper formers now, big men and women on campus, free to frighten as many freshmen as we please. Many of us take the roles of leaders as sport captains, peer educators, and heads of a cappella groups or clubs. We finally get to make decisions and be role models. Well, isn’t that great?
In two words: not really. Fifth formers have it as bad as anyone on campus, and, while those in other grades can attest to the challenges of their lives, very few will argue that being a junior is a lot of fun. Basically, we have just as many responsibilities as anyone else. The junior workload is rough. I’ve got a ridiculous amount of reading to do. Heck, I have to read 25 pages in French every night! The stress keeps accumulating with all of the added responsibilities that come with leadership (for me it’s being co-president of the radio station). And for all of us who do want to get into a good college, undoubtedly the unspoken-of “elephant in the room,” keeps adding to the list.
We have the spring to look forward to. The spring brings SATs, ACTs, APs, and college visits; add that to all of what we are dealing with already. Yes, we 5th formers have a lot of responsibilities, and not a lot of privileges. Seniors can sit in their own section in the dining hall, they don’t have lights out, and they get the joy of senior spring when everything is over (besides the Last Hurrah). We get college applications. Isn’t junior year sweet?
I’ll admit something to you. I do have it kind of made. I get to take a trimester off of the hell that is junior year. I’m going to France in the winter for a term abroad, missing the drear of Wallingford’s January and February. But is this good or bad? Will I come back rested and ready to tackle junior spring head-on? Or will I be rusty and discombobulated? Will I have completely forgotten about the Sugar Act or functions and domains? Will junior year seem even worse than I remembered? I will leave these questions until March and instead, leave under classmen with a word of advice: junior year is tough, but don’t get too stressed out. Try to get a good night’s sleep and, when all else fails, breath in and out a few times. Deeply. Then do it again.
