Joie Wu

Welcome back! As September rolls around, many students and staff are finally shaking off those summer feelings and returning to a school year mindset. As the school year goes on, I want to remind everyone of the importance of keeping up your health during the school year! Make sure to stay hydrated and get decent sleep this year (a bit hypocritical from the girl proofreading this article at 3 am, but hey, you can’t win them all). Please allow yourselves to take breaks, and remember that academics aren’t everything. You only experience high school once, so remember to enjoy it!

Speaking of the high school experience, I’d like to welcome this year’s Freshman! While this year isn’t as significant to colleges as sophomore and junior years, it still affects your GPA – so keep up with your grades and focus on academics. Freshman year does matter. Freshman year is basically a way to get a GPA boost. However, even if there are some mishaps this year, colleges look for an improvement over these four years. Don’t stress yourselves out too much. Join a club! Make friends! Grow as a person! Not to be cliche, but have fun! Seriously, always allow yourself to have a little bit of fun.

Moving on to our Sophomores, welcome back to you guys too! Nice not being the youngest anymore, huh? Many of you feel more sure of yourselves compared to last year. Wonderful! As a general reminder, continue focusing on school. There is a bit of uptick in work compared to last year, but try your best to manage it. 

“This year, I feel like it is going by a lot slower, but in a good way. It feels like I know what I’m doing more, and overall feels like a more productive year. As for the academic stuff, it’s a bit more work than freshman year. I don’t remember having this much work in September freshman year, and I know some of my friends are stressing over work. I’ve tried to procrastinate less than freshman year, and it’s going alright so far.” – Justin Hsu, Sophomore at Oceana.

If you feel like you messed up freshman year, don’t fret. Colleges are looking for both consistently good grades and consistent improvement! I would say that sophomore year is the time to develop good studying and time management skills if you haven’t already. Procrastination will be your downfall, and it isn’t worth it. Also: you don’t have to start working at round numbers. If it’s 4:32, don’t wait until 5:00 to begin working; start now.

Now that we’ve covered the spike in workload, it’s the perfect time to talk about our Juniors. Many Juniors are taking on a much larger workload than last year, whether from AP classes or other extracurricular activities. Please remember to allow yourself to take breaks; don’t burn out at the beginning of the year. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and talk to our teachers! Some teachers have some excellent advice; after all, they write your letters of recommendation! I have a little plan I’d like to share with you: if you’re a Junior and plan to go to college, try to figure out a broad idea of the field you want to major in by the winter! Winter is when all the good internships/programs open up for the summer, so don’t miss these opportunities! There are loads of more general preeminent programs to join. Important note: don’t be discouraged if you have no clue what you want to major in. It’s a big decision that many college students mull on for a long time. It’s okay not to know what you want to do or where to go, especially in junior year. Overall, manage your time wisely and start thinking of the future! 

Ah, there it is. The big topic – college! Just a little more, and Seniors will be graduating! But first, congratulations to our Seniors for making it to their last year!!! While you seniors are stressing out and fantasizing about the future, enjoy the present too! I know right now is a stressful time, but please make sure to take care of yourselves. Make sure to take breaks or have some other activity or hobby where you can take your mind off all that stresses you out. Be sure to spend quality time with your friends and families! Even if you don’t plan to go to college or move out, senior year is still a huge transition year with loads of opportunities to make precious memories. Be sure to take advantage of that! 

Manage your time well, don’t stress out too much, and enjoy the school year! Until next time!