Half-Life

It is common knowledge that Junior year is (most likely) the hardest year of a students high school career. At least that is the case at OVS, where AP courses dominate one’s time and extra curriculars are essential. Senior year is supposed to be different though. There’s the anticipation of college, of being an adult, of spending the last year with people that you’ve grown up with. That’s what I thought when I arrived a week late to school. I expected a general sense of positive anticipation, of laxness and comradery. At first that was true. Everything had a tinge of refreshment and independence. But there was a feeling there that I didn’t expect, but that I was strangely familiar with. And as the days progressed, that feeling expanded, suffocating those sentiments of senior status. Then I began seeing it in other people. Not everyone. Not to the same degree that I was feeling it. But it wasn’t just me.  It’s something like this, quoting a good friend of mine: “It feels like I’m rotting on the inside and out, if that makes sense.” To me, it makes perfect sense. That was the feeling that had been growing. A general sense of self degradation. I wasn’t the person that I used to be. Maybe it’s change. Maybe it’s stress. Maybe it’s life experience. I don’t know the cause, but it’s there nonetheless. It’s frightening, even more so when two of your closest friends express those same sentiments to you within a week. Maybe it’s just me, and those of you reading this don’t feel it at all. But if you do feel like something is hollowing you out, if you feel like there’s an unstoppable source of existential decay, then try smiling a little more. Tell your friends you care about them.  Do something good every day.

Who knows, maybe you’ll end up on our thumbs up segment of The Wednesday Briefing.

Credit: ojaivisitors.com

Senioritis

After I got accepted to a few colleges, I started to become extremely lazy. I just want to be done with high school and I don’t have the motivation I used to have, due to the fact that senior grades don’t affect the chances of being accepted.

I don’t know if I am simply becoming lazy, or if I have senioritis. Senioritis is a word I hear a lot these days. The definition is: “A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as Graduation (Urban Dictionary).”

After reading the definition, I am pretty sure I have senioritis. Previously, I never knew it existed, and I am surprised I have it. I have 130 more days until graduation and I hope my senioritis does not affect that time. Instead of just thinking about college, I want to appreciate the last days I have at this school, and as a high school student.

Photo Credit: collegetransitioninitiative.com

Senioritis

Senioritis is real.

No matter how much I’ve tried to prevent it or convince myself that I haven’t been over taken by it, I am forced to accept that I have been.

The thought of getting out of high school, starting a new chapter in my life and moving off to college has me itching to get out of my small town.

The work seems so tedious. Every single assignment makes me feel like I want to set my textbooks on fire.

As I look around at my senior class I know that I am not alone in feeling this. As the acceptances roll in, our motivation rolls out.

We are all so distracted by the constant stream of questions that are running through our heads.

What colleges do I apply to?

Who’s been accepted where?

Who has committed?

It is almost like my brain has been taken over and I can’t control it.

http://www.mhspurplewings.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/senioritis.jpg

End of the year work

Most people would think that as the school winds down, so would the work load.

Umm, that is a negative.

Quite the opposite has happened to me.

I feel like right now is the most work I have had in a while.

It could be that I am suffer from pre senioritis, which is an issue because I’m a junior….

Well whatever.

Message to teachers.

Stop it!

I want to be relaxing and studying for finals, not doing projects and writing essays, that was what most of the year was for, now please let me relax and ride out the rest of the year.

I would like to imagine my last weeks of junior year with myself on a tropical beach, soaking up sun, drinking something with a tiny umbrella in it, and watching cute girls in bikinis walk by.

Not sitting in a classroom, doing busy work so that we feel like we’ve accomplished more, when really we’re doing the same old stuff.

If I didn’t care about my grades so much and how that effected my future I would go on strike.

And also what is this going to school on Memorial Day.

I feel that it is un American and as an American I should have the opportunity to opt out of school on this day sans consequence, but whatever.

I will be in class bright in early while others are at the beach or BBQing enjoying the day.

6 WEEKS.

6 weeks.

I CANT WAIT.

I’ve been counting down from 100 days, but spring break was our LAST BREAK OF THE YEAR!

Everyone keeps saying to avoid the disease known as Senioritis, but at this point, I have no idea if that’s possible. Even a few of my teachers seem to be counting down the days.

In 2 weeks, AP testing will be going on. I’m nervous for my 2 tests, AP Psych and AP English, but also excited because after the test in Psychology, we’re leaving our text book behind and watching movies and doing fun activities. Also, we will already have taken our final exam, so I will have nothing much to worry about in terms studying for that class.

As for my others, I will still be having finals and homework. But, for Law and Society, we will be having a big mock trial as our final, and I have a feeling that it will be really fun! I’m excited to see what it’s about.

College is in the very near future, and I still don’t know where I’m going yet. My first choice is way too expensive, so I’m just very unsure at this point. I have to decide by next week, though, so at this point I’m just hoping I make the right choice.

Let’s just make it through the next few weeks! Then it’ll be a nice break from school until I embark on a whole new adventure.

Senioritis

SENIORITIS!!!!

It’s here. And it’s kicking in BIG TIME.

I was extremely motivated to do well in school in the beginning of the year. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to do well, and I haven’t completely given up. But ever since college applications have all been turned in, I have noticed a shift within me and my friends that I thought I would be able to resist.

It also could be more apparent in me than in my peers, considering the fact that I have been in high school for 5 years rather than the average 4. I have had an extra year of wanting to be out of here, and it is eating away at me little by little.

Some people might not agree, but for me, I actually like going to school for the most part. But the fact that it’s the SAME THING every single day, and the fact that I feel like there’s more and more homework each week.
SO. MUCH. HOMEWORK.

I hope that this upcoming break will help dissipate some of these feelings, at least a little bit, but I’m pretty sure it will not be solved until the day that I graduate. The more I keep thinking about it, the worse it gets. I guess I just need to try harder than ever to keep myself motivated and not slack off!

Just about 4 months and 3 days until graduation, it’ll all be over. At least, for a little bit.

What A Month.

October.

And I’m already feeling the symptoms of senioritis.

A stress-packed conglomeration of college applications, standardized testing, school, cross country meets, and more college applications.

The first day of October commenced with a good early morning dosage of standardized testing. Yes, the SAT’s. However, I don’t remember ever sleeping so long (9 hours) during my five-year stay at Ojai Valley School.

I was also assigned four reading journals and an essay this week for AP Literature. How I am going to finish those assignments, I have yet to figure out but I will get it done.

My next big event is this upcoming Wednesday. At Thacher, I am running in a cross country meet. As well as on the Wednesday after that and (surprise surprise) the Wednesday after that. This is my first time running cross country and I am nervous. I don’t know what to expect. All I know is that the course will be three miles but I guess I will find out in three days exactly how it will be.

On October 22, I will be taking the ACT…in Oxnard. Which means that I will be waking up at five o’ clock, getting breakfast somehow, driving down to make it by 7:45 a.m. to register and take the test.

Two days before that, I will have figured out my SAT score from the test I took yesterday.

One day before, October 21, I would have found out whether or not I have become a finalist in the Questbridge National College Match program. This is my most important deadline and I expect myself to be checking every moment of the day for a notification from the program telling me whether or not I have made it. If I do make the program, I will be able to be offered a four-year full scholarship at the schools of my dreams, Williams College and Amherst College. I am anxious. I had been working on my essay for months. With the help of my mentor, Fred Alvarez, and my college counselor, Dave Edwards, I turned in my final product. Hopefully, my work has paid off.

The last weekend of October is also Parent’s Weekend here at OVS. I will be very busy having conferences with my teachers and having a seminar on that Sunday.

The UC Application is also up online as of yesterday. I need to get started on that soon because I will not have the time to work on them on the upcoming weekends.

As overwhelming as this month seems to me, I know that I need to take things one step at a time. If I bombard myself with all of these events at once, I know the quality of my work will be compromised. I just need to pray to the man up above for a break, big or small, so that my college stresses could be relieved soon. My senioritis isn’t helping either. 249 days until graduation!

The Last Blog

This is my last blog of the year-the last blog as a junior.

So should I write about?

Well, I can write about almost anything. About how my friends are leaving in a eight days, or how maybe I found out that I became president. I could write about how I will be going to Chicago this summer for a medicine forum. Or I could talk about unicorns and how much I ABHOR butterflies. Ick.


But, I feel like my last blog should be more substantial than my usual potpourri. My final blog should be more.

This blog (my last blog) is a tribute to a very special person. A teacher to be more specific.

I have had him teach me in a subject every single year that I have been here at Ojai Valley School Upper Campus.

The greatest thing about this man is that he knows when and how to push me to my greatest potential. I don’t think I have learned more about my own limits than I have when I was learning from this teacher.

He has an interesting way of teaching. History, which is the subject he teaches, happens to be the subject I hate the most. But, when I learned it from him, it was my favorite subject. It was because of his humorous way of teaching that engaged all of his students and made everybody love taking his class. But this teacher is not just jokes but he knows when to be serious and knows motivate his students to do their best.

Mr. Alvarez, you are not only my favorite teacher, but you are my coach and one of the people I look up to. You are great and I am happy that I was fortunate enough to take your classes every year. Thank you for being such an excellent teacher and for motivating me to always do my best. I can’t wait for journalism next year, during my senior year. Haha hopefully, you will be able to put up with my major college stress and senioritis.

Strugglin’

Bro! So AP exams have been happening for a little under a week now. My first one is over, thank Jesus. But, I still have another one on Friday. Stress is killer of course but you know what’s really annoying? The fact that my Senioritis has kicked in times one trillion and 72. Last year I always thought Senioritis wouldn’t be so bad. I was wrong. Seriously, I just do not want to do anything but sit in my bed and watch Bones. It’s really upsetting too because it’s the end of the year and I have a lot to catch up on. *Cough* Blogs *Cough*.

I’m just strugglin’ man. Here’s what will happen, I’ll sit down at my computer, I’ll think of an idea and get really inspired. Then when I start to write I get super creative and come up with these crazy thoughts. But, when I run out of time to finish what I start, it never ends getting done. The worst part is, on the weekends I get more done than I do during the actual school week. I’ll spend hours studying on the weekend, but by the time Monday comes I’m too burned out to do any other work. It’s ridonkulous. Gosh dern it’s frustrating!

So, what do I do? I want to graduate man, but I’m not gonna lie, I’m scared!