Photo Provided by Bella Vallejo ’26

Gorgeous junior and senior duo Bella Vallejo ’26 and Pia Gomez ’25 pose at the flag football senior night!

Now that we are three months into school, the workload is starting to feel real and not too light anymore; the honeymoon phase is over. As I work through my senior year (and college applications), I have come to reflect on the past three years and realize that my junior year was definitely my hardest. I know a lot of people say that it is the most important year because it’s the year colleges look at the most, but I can’t stress this enough. This was my hardest year, hence the reason I called it “junior year war,” so I want to help any current juniors or soon-to-be juniors through that year as much as possible. Here are some tips from myself and my fellow seniors:

1. Stay organized: In whichever way you choose to stay organized, stay consistent with it. Whether it be a planner or multiple folders, do whatever works for you. Last year, I used notion.so, an online workspace where you can create literally anything, so I used it to create a planner. It can be hard to navigate at first, but there are many tutorials on YouTube!
2. Take a college class or two. You can definitely do this early on in your high school career as well, but I barely discovered this in my junior year. I decided to do mine online with the University of Alabama, but I know several of my friends did theirs with local community colleges. 
3. Start your college applications early. There’s no rush, but this will definitely benefit you in your senior year. It never hurts to begin your resume and extracurricular list or research colleges you may be considering. Senior Vianna Cabal suggests, “Start your college applications early so you can balance schoolwork and extracurriculars as a senior more easily.” 
4. Stay in contact with your teachers and create a good student-teacher relationship with them. I had amazing teachers during my junior year and was lucky enough to have great relationships with all of them, which benefited me whenever I needed help with something or when I needed to reschedule a test.
5. Choose your friends wisely. This applies to all throughout high school, but junior year is a challenging year and the year right before your senior year. So, you want to make sure that the people you surround yourself with are people whose goals align with yours and those who will be a support system in the next two years.

   

6. Do something you enjoy outside of school. Whether it be club sports or an internship – do something you’re passionate about. Having an outlet outside of school creates a good balance and helps with stress load. 
7. Prioritize self-care. This is so important, especially in high school. Sometimes life can move quickly and we can often prioritize other things, but at the end of the day, we must prioritize ourselves. Treat yourself to coffee in the morning, get the right amount of sleep, or meditate: self-care looks different for everyone, so engage in whatever interests you. Ava Fredman ’25 says, “For self-care, I enjoy watching movies and cleaning my room because it is peaceful.”
8. Study and keep track of your classes. I learned last year that studying is very effective and helped me so much. I actually became the Quizlet plug last year for my fellow Honors U.S. History girls, so whichever form of studying works best for you, make sure you do it. My Quizlet account is isabellajsolis, for any juniors who may need help with history; I have the majority of Honors U.S. History units and some criminology ones as well.

So, juniors, stay focused on the goal, but also please take care of yourselves. Best of luck this year!