Your junior year of high school is known to be one of the most important and stressful. It’s your first year being an upperclassman, and so you face many new upperclassmen responsibilities. It is important for students to make every year count, every year special. 

This year, I made it my top priority to get involved. Yes, I have always been involved in extracurriculars for the past two years, but I made an extra conscious effort this year. I just think it’s important, and plus a well-rounded student always appeals better to college recruiters. It helps to get your name into the school community as a whole, and also, it gives you something to do during lunch. I know some students don’t have a problem staying occupied during one lunch, but I find myself sitting there for an hour chatting it up with my friends, when I could be doing something productive and that would also benefit my future life. 

Now, in regards to getting involved, there needs to be a defined, explicit line between what’s appropriate…and what I mean is an appropriate amount of activities to get into. If you’re taking all CM classes and aren’t having a hard time in those classes, you could sign up to do more clubs, compared to a student who is taking four AP’s. That student would probably want to get involved in less than the student who isn’t taking any AP’s. And clubs and things to get involved in should surround academic clubs. There are so many choices of academics here at LHS. There’s Mock Trial, LEO Club, Key Club, Enviorothon, Chic Fil A Leadership Academy, MUN, and so many more. Yes, it’s nice to do something extra that solely matches what exactly your personality and interests are, but at the end of the day, how is the club that you color in benefitting you? Yeah , you make friends, and maybe you learn some neatness, but your college application doesn’t care whether you were in a coloring club, they care that you were apart of NHS or Key Club for four years. 

College has always been a targetable goal for me. I strive every single day I am in school to do good and eventually end up in a university somewhere. Journalism isn’t a club, it’s a class, and I still chose to take it. I could’ve taken Spanish 3, that would’ve allowed me to extend my minimal two years of a foreign language, but I didn’t. This is my second year in journalism and I freaking love it! Will a college that I attend for nursing,or forensics really care that I took journalism? Not really. But I care, because I’ve learned how to report, interview, and operate various technological devices within the two times taking this class. And I’ve always enjoyed writing. It’s such a diverse class and it gives the students an amount of freedom in which I’ve never had another class give before. I can write about whatever I want to write about, or report on whatever I want to report about, or add any goofy lines I want into LTV (within reason of course). SO not only have I learned new things in this class, I’ve also learned about different ways to write effectively, which is important to me! The reason for telling this is that I had to choose one over the other. Do I want to take a third year of foreign language, or do I want to take Journalism again? It was kinda a tough decision for me to make academically, but mentally it wasn’t hard at all. Have fun in high school, and work hard. Settle with actions or classes or clubs that will adjust well for YOU! Don’t do anything unreasonable. If you can’t handle it, don’t do it; and if you can handle it, try it! Get involved in something new!