High School..best years of our lives? yeah right

[Jenny Doherty]

Alright, I would not consider myself a "debbie downer" or a negative person necesarily, but I feel like junior year is killing me. Between academics, more competive sports, the ACT and other extracurriculars, I thought that this past school year was definately going to be the death of me. Upperclassmen warned me last year to not overload my schedule, and to plan my time better, but I feel like no matter what I have done, there was always more I should be working on . In addition to our normal schoolwork, many of us diligent students have been working on preparing for the ACT outside of school. This adds to our homework load considerably. All the extra work I put in for my ACT has really paid off, and I'm satisfied with my final score, but did that one point improvement really make all that much of a difference?

Because of all this extra stress and things on my "to-do" list, my home life has also been affected. My parents are always worried about my last semester of grades that actually matter as they put it. Every little test and quiz seems to weigh so much more than it has in the past. Am I the only one who has felt the pressure of this year so much more than the previous four high school semesters? Why does it have to be like this?

All this stress and worrying cannot be good for our health, no matter how young or old a person is, it effects our wellbeings. As American teenagers, we work our butts off to get that extra tenth of a point on our GPA, but is it really going to be worth weight gain, heart problems, and other possibly damaging side affects of stress overload?

[Kaity Drahos]

This year is insane. When I entered high school, I was told to expect that. We're all told to try as hard as we possibly can! And do extracurriculars! And push yourselves! But, my stress level is through the roof. Stress just makes things worse, and it's unavoidable. There's just so much to get done! All I can say is, senior year, please hurry.

[Meghan Byrne]

I never knew that there could be so many problems just stemming from a little bit of stress! I am a junior this year and I can definitely feel a change in my stress level. My friends, seniors now, always told me "value you freshman and sophomore year, you'll miss your freedom when you get to junior year." I never believed them til now. I have so much more homework this year and so many more tests and my classes are A LOT harder. I never thought I;d have to work this hard in high school. My stress level is above the line!

[Halle Gitelson]

This year is the hardest for me no question about it. like alot of the other students here at fremd im in sports and have a lot of homework. just like megan i was at school the other day for 14 hours straight, which in my opinon is way too much. All the homework and studying that we have to do along with sleep and sports, is alot for us to handle. i know that this is going to be an extremly stressful year.

[Morgan Delapa]

I am a junior and this year by far is my hardest. I noticed and began to recongnize within the first couple weeks of school that i would be loaded with homework and expected more out of. Its hard when you have all these classes, sports plus other activites. And then you need to think about college and act is coming up. I know this year for sure will be the most stressful.

[megan bryk]

I am a junior and I definately feel the pressure. I am involved in sports so I was at school for 14 hours today with practices and trying to squeeze some homework in between. I think there is way to much stress on teens today with higher expetations in school, thinking about colleges, and the ACT. The lack of sleep and amounts of stress is unhealthy.

[Lauren Andersen]

This year is by far the toughest, and with everything I'm trying to become involved in, I feel like I don't even have time to just sit down and breathe. The ACT is what's causing the most stress and seriously what for!? Test scores aren't the only way to evaluate how a person will do in college. Besides the ACT, I really don't understand why colleges look at how students did at this year mostly rather than looking at all 4 highschool years as a whole. Yeah, the classes junior year are harder than before, but so what? My sophomore year was more difficult than my freshman year and I'm sure senior classes are going to be more difficult than junior classes. So then what's so great about junior year?

[Robin de Freitas]

Junior year for me was pretty much as expected, a little bit of more homework and what not, but at the same time I think it's a little bit too hectic for a teen to be stressed out this much. Also, how are we supposed to get the sleep we need if we wake up at 6 and have extra curriculars, academics, and social lives to attend to?

[Bridget Babcock]

Right now its only a month into junior year and I have about a billion questions rattling around in my brain; its a wonder i even sleep at night. How can I keep my grades up? When am I supposed to sleep if I have all these things to do for tomorrow? How am I going to take act prep while participating in Fremd athletics every season? What do I want to do after high school? How am I supposed to apply for colleges with mediocre grades? I just want all of these questions to be answered so I can't stop worrying all the time!

[Haley Bohl]

I'm a junior now and i feel like it is a lot of pressure because of the act, and this year means everything for college and all. This is our last hard year of high school and really our only hard part of it! Im glad to get it over with and really just very excited to start college and my life.

[Alanna Krivanek]

I agree, its only 1 month into my junior year and i already feel like I'm going to die. I'm busy with tons of homework, being on a competitive team and fearing for my grades. Being in classes like chem, adv. trig/ pre calc and spanish don't help the stress either. But once this year is over, I'm going to enjoy my senior year.