Dear Future Seniors,

Imagine you’re starting your first day of your senior year, you’ve been dreading it all summer. You’re worried if it’s going to be too stressful, and you can’t keep up with your homework. As a SPASH senior I’m here to give you some helpful tips from the 23’ graduating class.

Ms.White, a english teacher at SPASH, asked 2 of her sophomores classes to write some questions they have to ask seniors about their senior year so far and their experience to have a good year. I picked 3 questions out of the pile of sticky notes I got back from the sophomores to ask some of the seniors in our school.  Then I interviewed 3 seniors and one from a different school to see if their experience was any different from SPASH. 

Senior year stress

The first question was “Do you think senior year is the most stressful year?”

Brooke Hojnacki, a senior at SPASH responded to the question “It’s the least stressful because in your sophomore and junior year you take all the classes you need to get, then you have less required classes you have to take your senior year.” Your sophomore year and junior year are your “working” years. You want to take all your classes that are required like english, math and more so when it comes to your senior year you don’t have to worry about if you have enough credits to graduate. The 2 other seniors that were interviewed said similar responses, saying you have the most freedom and less work during your senior year.

Homework while having a job

The next question that was asked was “How do you manage homework and having a job.” Nadia Lind, a senior at SPASH stated “ I asked for Wednesdays and weekends to work so i have time after school to focus on getting all my homework done on time.” I then asked Lind if she recommends having a job while in school and she responded with “It’s nice to have money so you can get what you want but at the same time it’s hard to work nights right after school till 9 and you have no time for homework” All of their responses were a little different, Maddie Korbal, a senior at Auburndale high school says “It’s pretty stressful at some points, and at my job I work later so I get tired throughout the schools day.” I followed up to ask when she has time for homework and she responded that “I get done around 2 so I have that 2 hour gap where I can do all my homework that’s needed.” Having the privilege of having off hours and getting out of school early is really beneficial if you have a part time job so you have that time gap or extra hour just to get some homework done so you don’t end up falling behind. 

Burnt out social life?

The last question asked was “ How do you balance school and a social life without becoming burnt out.” Hojnacki said, “ When I get home after lunch I focus on doing my homework so I don’t have distractions and then I go out with friends” I then followed up by asking if she has a lot of homework to deal with while being in AP classes and how she makes time around that. Hojnacki responded with “Near the middle of the year there is a lot of homework and I stay home most of the week so I can focus on not falling behind.” Korbal said “ It’s hard because my job interferes with my free time a lot.” I followed up by asking if she ever feels like she has free time and she said “Sometimes yes but i normally see all my friends at my school because its a smaller school than SPASH so I hangout with them there.” While having a job and or loads of homework, it shows how that can interfere with your social life with your friends and family. Some days people feel like if they hangout with their friends other than doing homework that you’ll fall behind and there is no catching up. The amount of work will sometimes affect your after school plans.

With all these responses from SPASH seniors, this should be the highlight of your high school career. I hope you’re more confident with entering your upcoming senior year.