This year I began my sophomore year of high school. Everyone tells you that your sophomore year is nothing to worry about, that it is your junior year to be ready for. Though I do agree that junior year has more stressful academic experiences, sophomore year can sometimes make you feel lost. 

My family and I are experiencing new major life events, my sister is graduating high school and is going to college soon. I’ve watched as she fills out college applications and gone on college visits, but I can’t help but think about what it’s actually going to be like without her around. Of course we weren’t the best of friends when we were younger, but we’ve become closer since my eighth grade year of school. She’s someone I can rely on to tell me the truth, who I have a good time with, someone who I’ve never not had around. 

Other students have, or will, go through this feeling when a sibling or close friend graduates. 

“It’s definitely a mix of feelings, there’s a big feeling of responsibility and freedom but there’s still the loneliness that comes with all that,” said Emmett Marsh, class of 2024. 

My sports have been very helpful this year in distracting me from my future reality. I have been dancing and swimming since I was three years old and am now on both school and club teams for both sports. Almost all of my club friends are leaving because they are graduating. I have always been aware that they would be leaving, but I never thought it would happen this fast. 

Sometimes doing multiple teams and clubs can be a little bit stressful, especially when they overlap. During the last two weeks of the school swim season, school dance season starts. Adding two sports that overlap each other to school and homework can be too much sometimes, but I don’t know what I would do without them, they’re what I know and what I have a passion for. 

I often think about my senior year and what it will be like. My club dance team has become my second family, so when I leave I think I will be, to be quite frank, a hot mess. 

Sophomore year is kind of a weird year. We’re supposed to be thinking about college but not making any decisions yet because it is too early for that. As of right now, I would like to go into public relations, which is basically managing an image for a company. I have considered a few schools, but I haven’t made any concrete decisions because my plans could change throughout the next two years.

I have learned that I have a hard time thinking about the future or what I’m going to do because for me, it’s a scary thought. Yes, I’m scared of leaving my family, but I’m not scared of just that, the uncertainty of what I want to do, with a career and with what school to go to, leaves me a little nervous. What if I chose the wrong school? What if I don’t like what I chose to study? What if I don’t know what I want to do? All of these “what if’s” occasionally cloud my head, but I choose not to focus on them because for me, it is too early to be making set in stone decisions. 

Even if I’m not making any set in stone decisions, some students are.  

“I have made the decision that I do want to go to college and get my BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing),” said Alejandra Solache-Lopez, class of 2025.

As I had said, I have been dancing and swimming for about 12 years now. You could call it an obsession, but I call it a passion. I do not ever believe I will become a professional in either of these and that’s okay, they are what I love to do. You would think I would get tired of constant practices throughout the week and throughout the year, but they are things I look forward to, they clear my head and allow me to relax after school. Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely off days where all I want to do is leave or not even go in the first place, but that’s normal. We all experience burn-out in different ways. 

Of the considered negative things about sophomore year, it definitely has its positives. To point out the obvious, we’re no longer freshmen. This year, we walked into the doors feeling older and more mature. We’re experiencing new teachers, new ways of thinking and new friendships. Though sophomore year has some stressful and negative occurrences, it most definitely has its good parts to it. 

“Sophomore year is definitely different from my freshman year. I believe I am just getting used to the way my new teachers teach,” said Solache-Lopez.