Moving forward: Sophomores to juniors

It’s perhaps the biggest jump within high school: sophomore to junior year. Often thought to be the most difficult year of high school, one’s junior year is the time when college begins to come into focus.

“I think the hardest transition for students going from sophomore to junior year is the academic standards and the rigor from going to pre-AP classes to basically AP classes,” counselor Ryan Kiefer said. “It’s what students struggle with most.”

While counselors know that the transition from sophomore to junior year is a tough transition, students also realize that college is becoming a priority.

“I feel excited, but nervous,” sophomore Makayla Deleon said. “I gotta start thinking about colleges and my grades a lot more.”

Although being a junior can be more stressful and time consuming, there are some things to look forward to.

“I look forward to definitely being more mature and like being an upperclassman, I guess you could say,” Deleon said. “Just really focusing in on what I want to do when I get older as a career.”

For other students, the third year of high school signals something different as they move away from reliance on their parents.

“I look forward to being able to drive and get my first job,” sophomore Madi Dorough said. “And be a little more independent as I get older.”

Although there can be many things to look forward to as a student transitions from sophomore to junior year, there may be some downsides such as harder courses, the SAT and ACT, and having more pressure on for colleges.

“I don’t look forward to all the hard grades because everybody says junior year is the hardest,” Deleon said. “Then you gotta like buckle down and start making the hard decisions in life.”