It’s the seventh week of my senior year of high school, and I am starting to feel the stress a normal high schooler should have. As the classes get more difficult, my stress level goes up. I’m doing my best to stay caught up, but there is a constant struggle of trying to be in the same place as everyone else is in twelfth grade.
I have been behind a lot in both AP Government and AP Calculus. Catching up has been difficult since everyone is so far ahead, but luckily I have a close friend who has been there when I needed help. I’ve stayed through lunch a lot to catch up and asked my teachers for extra help, too.
Even though it’s difficult, that’s what it takes to stay on top of everything.
I’m keeping my eye on the prize: college.
Speaking of which, this week I had the opportunity to go on a college visit to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. UTK is one of the colleges on my wish list, and after visiting, I have made the decision that I will place it in my list of top three colleges I’m applying to. UTK is a great, medium-sized school that offers amazing programs in computer science and political science, one of which I hope to major in. The campus looked amazing and the dorms looked nice. They also have a great study abroad program, and I hope to take advantage of that if I attend UTK.
I ended my week with something I’ve looked forward to ever since school started: Book Club. A club that I started at KIPP. A place where a group of my closest friends and favorite teacher come together and talk about current events and read books based on social justice.
This week during Book Club, we each called our local Senators and Representatives to make our voices heard about DACA and several other issues that concerned our group.
Doing this gave us the opportunity to see what it would be like to fight for what we believe in. We then had a discussion on the effects of DACA being ended and how we hope to get the needed information out to the public. This club is the best way to get political information out in KIPP, and I am grateful for all the people who have helped me make this possible, especially Mr. Reilly for helping us bring our voices out and getting them heard.
In total, this week has been stressful but fun. I was able to visit one of the colleges I am applying to, have my voice heard on DACA, and start Book Club back up for my final year of high school. With all of this happening, I can see a bright senior year ahead of me.