Reflection

     My first semester of senior year was great. Despite being what is probably the most stressful semester of high school, what with applying to colleges and then anxiously waiting months for them to finally slam their gavels and give the good or bad news, I still had time for plenty of fun.

     As someone undecided on what the heck they want to do in college, I’ve used high school, especially this year, as an opportunity to explore as many fields of interest as I could, and I’m happy to report that I learned a lot about myself. For example, I developed an interest in math that I definitely didn’t have before  (in fact, I kind of hated it before ninth grade).

     I also learned a lot through my college applications, particularly through writing essays. They were an opportunity to develop writing skills I previously lacked, like finding my writer’s voice and speaking personally. The intimate honesty required for college essays was difficult to capture, but the process of doing so taught me a lot about writing and myself. 

     The first semester was also a fantastic opportunity to learn to balance many facets of life. At the beginning of the year, I (like many students) had to make time for college applications on top of schoolwork and extracurricular activities, and still have time to recharge and de-stress. I was able to learn to be proactive and not procrastinate, which will undoubtedly be useful later in life. 

     So far, 12 AP has been a bit of a unique high school experience. I loved the small-group, collaborative aspects of the class and learning what make for good writing. Some challenges I had to overcome were writing literary analysis essays, which I really sucked at before because I never fully understood the prompts. Thankfully, with enough practice that is no longer an issue for me. 

     A goal I have for the future is to be more courageous with my schedule. There were a couple times during course selection throughout high school when I felt held back by a fear that a course would be too difficult or would add too much to my workload, but I eventually learned that these fears were relatively unwarranted, especially considering I could always drop a class if it was too difficult. Whatever the case, I hope to destroy that habit now so I don’t carry it with me when I go off to college and eventually a career.