Freshman year

We walk through the halls with no worries about what is to come. Our parents still have to take and pick us up from school. As a freshman you are still adjusting from the “wonderful” middle school years into the glorified high school experience. On the weekends you have all the time in the world to be lazy and do what you want. All there is to worry about is where your next class is, where you will be sitting at lunch, if your hair looks good and if you remembered to bring your computer to school or not.

Sophomore year

Most turn 16 and have to worry about which selfie to post of themselves in their new “whip” with a caption that says, “Watch out. I’m a legal driver.” Others worry about grades and how they will be spending their weekend. Some stay home and do homework, sit and watch Netflix. And then a handful get jobs and help pay for the car they want, and so on and so forth. Your parents are just hounding you all the time about your attitude and whether or not you can hang out with your friends that week end or not.

Junior year

The struggle starts to step in. College is right around the corner and you realize that your grades actually matter. Junior year is quite possibly the most challenging. Some have to balance school, sports and a job. Others get the lucky draw and only have to deal with school. Along with junior year, there should be a warning sign that says, “This year sucks. Get ready to spend your nights pulling your hair out due to stress.” The classes get harder, the homework gets longer and the tests sound like they were written with a thesaurus in hand so you can’t understand what they are actually trying to ask.

Senior year*

First semester is your last chance to take the ACT/SAT and college applications are invading your life, not to mention everyone breathing down your neck asking you and telling you what you should do after high school. Second semester is a little different, though. The feeling that the last few months of school don’t matter because you already got accepted into the colleges of your choice or you have after-high school plans all figured out sets in. You cant wait to get out of the same old school but at the same time you don’t want to leave because everything will change.

*As a junior writing this article, I am writing about senior year from the perspective of an observer.