Written by Siya Patel
“You know when people say junior year is really hard, they’re not joking. I’m serious, they’re not joking,” exclaimed junior Maheen Dalawar.
Junior year is often known as being the most important year for high schoolers in terms of college admissions; along with their extracurriculars, juniors have to maintain good grades.
We interviewed a few juniors at RHHS, who shared how their junior year has been going so far.
Marilena Vieira revealed that she was less stressed than she thought she would be. “It’s easier than expected if I’m being fully honest. Everyone told me how I much was gonna hate junior year and never have time for anything.”
She added that the amount of schoolwork she receives fluctuates. “Some months are so busy; I have to tell my friends that I can’t do anything tonight. Then other times, I come home for like three weeks and I feel like I’m doing nothing because the teachers aren’t assigning anything.”
On the other hand, Dalawar felt that junior year has been constantly consuming. ”I’m home all the time, but not really. I’m always in my room studying or doing homework. I feel like school has really taken over my after school life.”
“My sleeping schedule is really, really bad. At the beginning of the year, I just didn’t manage my time properly so I’d be staying up all night,” she said.
Junior year has led Dalawar to make changes to her habits. “I’ve changed my study methods a lot. At the beginning of the year, I used to procrastinate but I do that less now. I’m still struggling a bit, but it’s getting better.”
Vieira explained that the transition from online to in-person has also posed to be a challenge for juniors, especially because many have taken on a more rigorous course load. “If you ask a lot of the juniors, the first semester was relatively harder for everyone because everyone was adjusting from such easiness last year.”
Vieira was eventually able to adjust by Quarter Two. “If you were to look at my Quarter One to Quarter Two grades, they increased by almost ten points in every single class.”
Vieira, however, expressed concern towards being unable to take major tests, such as midterms, in the past few years due to COVID. “We had one midterm freshman year and that’s it.So now I’m worried for this year and even college. I’ve never had to study for tests. Even for the AP exams this year, that’s almost like a final to me and I don’t know how to approach it.”
Juniors also feel there is much pressure from their peers. “I feel like everyone around me is talking about ‘Oh I’m going to this college. I’m looking into this. I’m looking into that.’ And I’m like: I don’t know what I want to do yet,” said Vieira.
Despite the difficulties of junior year, juniors recognize the positive aspects of it. “I’m happy to be back with friends. It is hard, but you can make it fun,” Dalawar stated.