As we are heading back to school, something feels different. Besides the obvious 180-degree turn around of being fully distant for school, my first-day jitters feel more like serious stress before school has really even started. 

Going into junior year, almost anyone can attest that this is one of the hardest years of your high school career. I’m talking about trying to juggle AP college-level courses, SAT/ACT prep, co-curricular activities, looking into colleges, and even more to check off a never-ending to-do list. 

As I crammed the last hundred pages of my summer reading and scrambled to finish Ms. Petro’s summer Chemistry assignment, I am seriously questioning if I will survive the school year before it’s even truly begun. 

We are all trying to navigate starting school completely “new” and going full distance learning. With the extra challenge of trying to maintain good grades and not being able to see friends everyday, juniors will struggle with the serious jump to a heavier course load. Not only is it practically impossible to focus during synchronous classes from 8 AM to 2 PM, the challenges of engaging with my peers and trying to learn precalculus without a whiteboard are seeming pretty insurmountable. 

When I was told freshman year that junior year would be the hardest year in my high school career, I didn’t anticipate having to deal with a global pandemic as well. Along with the academic challenges ahead, my grade and I will have to keep adapting to obstacles, phase changes, and the uncertain college tour process. Let’s hope junior year starts looking up in 2021!