by Shalei Holway

As a junior, I was very nervous going into this year.  I feared that the workload would be unbearable, SATs would take all of my time, and that I would never be able to see my friends.  Fortunately, it seems that I am not alone in saying that junior year is not as bad as I had anticipated.
At the beginning of the year I forced myself to start thinking about colleges and I started to join as many clubs as I could, because I had been advised to do so by people who had graduated.  So I went to just about every club that the school had to offer and I found myself actually enjoying the different activities and becoming very involved.  I found that most clubs are fairly accessible and want you to join.
The biggest difference that I noticed in the transition into the second half of high school was that, contrary to popular stereotype, my workload did not increase dramatically, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I wasn’t dying.  Furthermore, the best difference in my classes was that I was enjoying them more because I had a greater variety of options to choose from.  Consequently, I found myself more interested in my classes.
Aside from my classes and the clubs that I joined, perhaps the two highlights for me this year were Speech and Debate and the L-S Spanish Exchange. I did not anticipate how much I would come to love Speech and Debate, or the friends that I would make. There are so many after- school activities for students to become involved in, and you never know what you will enjoy before you try it, so go try out for different activities!
The second highlight that sticks out this year for me is the Spanish Exchange that I initially joined without putting much thought into. The morning that the papers for the trip were due, I decided to go on the exchange and I hastily became one of the 13 L-S students traveling to Spain during April vacation.  Although I went into the exchange not knowing anything about Spain or even where I was staying, the trip ended up being one of the most fun experiences that I have ever had.  This brings me to my second piece of advice for juniors next year, which is to take advantages of opportunities that you are given and to be spontaneous.  Even with all of the stress over testing and college, junior year was my best year of high school career thus far.