Congratulations! You’ve completed your first year in high school. In freshman year, you learned to adapt to the Upper School, met new friends, and created unforgettable memories. Throughout the year, you might have started to wonder—what will the rest of my Upper School experience be like? You might’ve asked some upperclassmen what to expect, and they might have told you: “Sophomore year is the easiest year.” When I was a freshman, I heard the same thing and went into this year with the mindset that it was going to be straightforward. As a rising junior, I can tell you that this is not true. Every year of high school is going to be different depending on you as a person, but sophomore year might be more difficult than what it seems.
When you walk into orientation on September 1, don’t let any of your nervous feelings or bad ideas get in the way of the memories you will make in the beginning of your sophomore year. It truly is the best part of the year. As a sophomore, you will begin to feel more comfortable in the Upper School environment. You are no longer the youngest and at the beginning of the year. You need to enjoy it. Take in the luxury of being able to sit at the benches, but please try to clean up all your trash after lunch to be able to keep that privilege for the rest of the year. I saw too many of the tables being taken this year because of the mess our class left behind. Try to be better than we were and make our school proud.
In what feels like a second, it will already be County Fair. There you can maybe experience your first time in a leadership position. You are in charge of the whole fair from the tickets to the cotton candy. Don’t take this experience for granted. You can use what you learned from County Fair in the rest of your Upper School experience. By learning how to plan out and execute the event, you will gain leadership skills that will help you when applying for positions. Sophomore year is the perfect time to start focusing on becoming leaders of clubs or affinity groups around Parker. Start participating in Student Government and other events that Parker hosts. This year is the year to find out what you enjoy doing and focus on those specific activities throughout the rest of the year. While it’s important to focus on applications, make sure that they are not the main focus of your year. Just because you didn’t get a position you were really passionate about doesn’t mean everything is over. Remember, this is just the beginning of your Upper School years and you will have plenty of time to apply for positions in the future.
Suddenly it will be January, going through your first final cycle of the year and moving through the last half of the year. You might feel some of the infamous sophomore slump hitting, you might feel as if the work is getting too much for you, and that’s completely normal. Use all the resources available to you. Take all the free time you have in the day to catch up on work, meet with teachers and study with friends, and most importantly, savor the last couple months of your year. You will most likely feel exhausted, ready for the school year to be over. To get over the sophomore slump, you need to focus on yourself. Make sure you are getting enough sleep and getting in the right mindset to get through each class of the day. Try locking yourself out of your phone and focusing more on your own hobbies or chores, taking your mind off social media and school work for just a quick break. These breaks help you feel more determined and give you the push that you might need to get over the slump. Whatever you do, make sure you don’t let it bring you down.
As election season hits, you realize the little amount of time you have left as an underclassmen. You realize the days of sitting and laughing at the benches are limited. Don’t forget about the rest of the year you’re in right now. In the end, I don’t believe the hardest part about sophomore year is academics. It’s being able to create all those incredible memories in such a short amount of time.
Have so much fun next year,
Love, Vada
