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The Importance of Junior Year

By: Reagan Settje, a junior at Leigh High School on May 07, 2019

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You know how most people say that high school is some of the best years of your life? Well they are obviously all forgetting about junior year.  

Junior year makes me want to get out of high school and start the next chapter of my life! I have always heard people say that junior year is the most stressful year.  I realized this year I underestimated how right they were!

Every year you start school in August, and you think it’s going to be just another year. For the most part, that’s true, until you hit your junior year.

I didn’t expect it to be this stressful or time consuming, but let me tell you, junior year is important. It’s the time of your life where you get to start taking college classes, and I didn’t forget about the ACT either.

I started college courses this fall, and they weren’t the worst thing that I’ve ever decided to do, but it can put a lot of stress on a person. The courses you take are usually used for dual credit, so it counts for my high school credit and will transfer to the college that I will be going to after I graduate.

I believe it is important to start taking college classes when you are in high school, and I think junior year is the right time to do it. You get a sense of what college courses are like, while still having time to do the same high school activities you want to.

I personally don’t love taking the classes, but I know that I’m going to need them sooner or later, so I might as well get them done now. It is convenient to be able to take them online, and it is cheaper now taking them through a community college than it would be at a four-year college or university.

Then there is the dreaded ACT. The ACT is probably the most stressful test high schoolers take.  At least it was for me.

This test sets the stone for what colleges you can get into, and what scholarships you can get. The entire week before I took it, I was freaking out. You can always study for the test, but you will never know what is going to be exactly on it, and being the ultimate planner that I am, I don’t like not knowing.

The first time I took it, I went in very worried and was very stressed, but the next time I didn’t think it was that bad. I knew what to expect.  It’s one of those tests that you can never be 100% ready for no matter what.

As my sunior year winds down, I can look back and see that it was definitely one of the hardest and most stressful years yet.

A lot is riding on a student’s junior year, and I can say I am glad it is almost over.  But I don’t expect life to slow down. I look forward to senior year and beyond for many more exciting chapters to come!