Junior Year: The Calm Before The Storm

By Natalie Balladares, Junior

At the start of the 2016 school year, the incoming junior class walked into iPrep’s colorful halls for the third time anticipating a year of rigorous Advanced Placement and  honors courses, enriching dual enrollment classes, and exciting internships. We were ready for a taste of upper-classmen freedom that had been teasing us throughout freshman and sophomore year.

Finally, we could skip the freshmen and the sophomores in the lunch line by getting to lunch five minutes earlier. Finally, we would obtain leadership positions in the Honor Societies and other clubs because of our seniority. Finally, we could leave school at 12:15 PM to have a trial-run of the adult world by joining an accredited internship. At last, we are almost there.
We, as juniors, have finally realized that we reached our third year of high school. We are three-fourths of the way there, which means that soon we will carry the baton of responsibilities that the graduating seniors are passing onto us. However, junior year has proved to be the opposite of the carefree year that we all expected. Junior year has been the time when we realize that colleges are scouting us; it has been the time where we have to prove we can work harder than ever. Junior year did not mean relaxed classes, but instead a plethora of hard work and dedication.

​Junior year in iPrep is truly an exciting experience. Thanks to the amazing leadership of the teachers, we had incredible field trips such as trips to the Wolfsonian, Zine Fair Project, and Young Arts. We also had the support of teachers (and will surely continue to have it during our upcoming senior year) when we needed some motivation to continue to work hard and never give up.
 
As the Class of 2018, we raised school spirit and actively participated in iPrep’s school events like Hoop It Up, Hispanic Heritage Celebration, Volleyball Tournament, Poetry Slam, and Sports Day.
 
This year’s Awards Ceremony was particularly special for our class. Outstanding members of our junior class were recognized with Book Awards from various universities such as Harvard University, Brown University, and Yale University in addition to academic awards for the best students of  each subject taught at iPrep. I can sincerely say that I am incredibly proud of my peers.
 
As time has passed by incredibly quickly, it is time to acknowledge that we have reached the fourth and final quarter of the school year-- the last quarter of our junior year. Truth be told, we do not feel the pressure of becoming rising seniors; yet, we must remember that next year we will be engulfed in a stream of college applications, Silver Knight nominations, club board meetings, and planning senior activities. Let’s just hope we don’t catch a case of senioritis!