I look back now at the past nine months and think about how much I have gone through and learned during my freshman year at Camarillo
High. I have grown not only as a student but as a person. For example, my teachers have taught me lessons by not accepting work that’s incomplete or late—I now understand that the world does not revolve around me.
Finals, thankfully, are over.
Some kids blow off finals and act like they’re just another test that we’re forced to take, but I take finals very seriously, knowing the consequences of not doing well.
Some consequences could be not going to the college I want or not going to college at all, not gaining the knowledge I need to know in life and not gaining good work and social habits.
I take finals as a warning that I need to buckle down and prepare myself for the harder and more challenging years not only of high school but of life.
We all know how high school works. You go from freshman to sophomore to junior and finally to senior.
What I don’t think we realize is that the process starts all over again once we reach college. How we do in high school leads to college, and how well we do in college leads to how we handle our lives: work habits and social situations.
What’s the bottom line?
The next two years are critical in determining which college I attend. I won’t make the mistake of letting these next two years simply happen to me. I want to do well and take control of my future.
My goals are to go to a UC, earn my bachelor’s degree in journalism and live my life doing what I love best: writing. I push to reach this goal by working hard and doing well in my classes.
So for the high school kids reading this and saying that finals don’t matter and freshman year is a joke, take a second look and think about how you’ll do sophomore and junior year. Look beyond that and question how you’ll do in college and how you will learn to gather that basic knowledge you need in life.
Taking a step up from bad grades and not caring could land you on top of the world. Just understanding how important sophomore and junior years are can lead to you doing well in your daily life.
Please take a second look at your life and question if you’re really taking the right path. With a little motivation, anything is possible.
