Dear Upcoming Juniors,

Buckle your seatbelts because you are about to enter one heck of a year. Junior year is filled with trials, testing knowledge, and learning patience. You’re not underclassmen anymore and have finally transitioned into being upperclassmen. With this ¨official¨ title there comes a lot of responsibility, dedication, and hard work. But don’t worry you got this covered.

Now, obviously, this responsibility isn’t household chores that your parents claim to be a ¨responsibility¨. It’s more of a responsibility of how you act. There are two grades below you that are in a crucial transition of their lives going from pesky middle schoolers to young adults. While in this stage they take heavy watch and influence on the peers around them, especially the upperclassmen.  So as upperclassmen it is so important that we lead by example and help encourage the younger ones to grow into being bright young adults. 

This is also the year of growing up a bit and maturing (hopefully). Trust me I was a sophomore once before, and it seems to be that everyone goes through a bit of a crazy time during that year. However that ¨crazy time¨ looked for you, cool, but hopefully, you learned what you needed to and can grow as a person moving forward. Obviously, this doesn’t mean you’re some uptight adult now that you’ve passed through the sophomore scaries, you’re going to keep making mistakes. All that matters is if you can finally learn from your mistakes. Remember, the younger ones are watching. 😉

One thing you will need lots of this year will be patience. With the seniors experiencing all of their lasts, you’ll reach a point and wish that was you. I don’t blame you though, you’re so close to the end yet so far, so it gets a little tricky sometimes to keep up the drive to achieve. Especially in the third quarter! I don’t know why but this quarter brings out the worst in people and in grades. It could be the horrendous weather or the lack of exciting things occurring during this time of year. Regardless of these factors, you need to remain focused and not check out.

Now for everyone’s favorite, the topic of grades. Grades in junior year are SUPER important. Just because you don’t think you’ll ever use trigonometry functions in your life doesn’t mean you can slack off, even though my math teacher guaranteed that we would never see these again. Yet, colleges still look at your grades in every subject. This means don’t be the person struggling to get an A in P.E. because of not doing your dynamic stretches. That’s just silly.

Even though this letter is making junior year seem all stressful and uptight, I can promise you this year is a lot of fun. Before the year starts, make sure you wrap your mind around the fact that you only have two years left with some of the people who’ve helped shape you the most. This thought process encourages you to make lasting memories and helps you appreciate the little moments more. Personally, my friend group blossomed in so many ways this year because we started taking into account how little time we actually have left together. While this may sound sad, it made this year one to never forget. 

So keep up the grades and never say no to a fun night, it’ll all fly by before you know it. Good luck sophomores!

                                                                                                               Sincerely, 

Sophie St. Amour