Infamous for being “the hardest year of high school”, I can assure you that junior year certainly lives up to its tough reputation. With the school year coming to an end in just two weeks, I don’t think I have ever been this relieved in my entire life. With the crippling workload of AP classes, extracurricular activities, my part time job, and keeping up with my social life, life has been pretty hectic this past year. And when I say hectic, I mean HECTIC. On top of all of this, junior year is known to be the most important year of high school since it’s the last fully completed year that colleges see on your transcript. Many juniors also opt to take the SAT and ACT, which is what some colleges use to determine your suitability for their school. Junioritis is truly the only way to describe the stress, mood swings, and procrastination linked to this work overload.

I’ve always put school as a top priority in my high school years. I filled my entire schedule with honors and AP classes, never had a missing assignment, did all of my work on time, and always put 110% effort into everything I produced. I’ve always excelled in school and genuinely enjoyed it too. However, this year hit me like a ton of bricks. With the overload of work came a disinterest in school, something I had never experienced before. I started to become super unmotivated, procrastinated more than ever before, and was tempted to just stop trying. I was losing sleep, developed a caffeine dependence to the point where I could not function without it, experienced many mental breakdowns, and started to miss out on the things that made me happy. I’ve never dealt with this kind of stress before, and was honestly clueless about how to handle it. 

What I will say though is while I wasn’t in the best of conditions this past year, I honestly would not trade my junior year experience for the world. I eventually learned how to better manage my time, conquered my lack of motivation, and most importantly, began to understand that I do not have to be the most perfect student in order to achieve great things. I learned that one failed test is not the end of the world and that I definitely will not end up working at a McDonald’s because of it. Sure, I’ll be upset about it for a day, but I will forget about it eventually. I began to realize that there is so much more to life than just a bad grade, and that mentality is what helped get me back up on my feet. 

To all the rising juniors, get ready for what next school year has in store for you. It definitely isn’t the easiest, but I can promise you that it is going to be the most valuable one. It has taught me so many memorable lessons that I know I will use in the future, and ultimately helped me grow as a person. I hope you don’t get too sick!