As someone who has taken nine AP classes, has leadership positions in five organizations and acquired over 250 volunteer hours in less than a year, spare time has not been abundant.
My strenuous weekly routine has weighed me down for the past four years, especially in my senior year, when students should enjoy their last year with their friends before entering adulthood. So, when looking back on all the memories I’ve missed out on to fill out my resume and get into my dream school, I sometimes wonder if my time was well spent.
During my freshman year, I joined many clubs, not because I was thinking of college, but because of my genuine interest in them. After not interacting with people my age during quarantine that summer prior, I was ready to meet new people and get as involved as possible.
I quickly fell in love with Model UN, Writing Club, The Explorer, Academic Challenge, Women’s Choir, Summit Choral Society and youth ministry at St. Mary’s Church. In each group, I felt I had found my place alongside other members due to the leaders’ welcoming of me and clear dedication to their organizations. Because I wasn’t competing between schoolwork and club meetings, I was oblivious to how much time I spent participating in my school activities.
The next year, I was a part of almost all the same activities, but filled my school schedule with the most rigorous classes I could take. I realized I had much less time to spend with my friends and family, but I could still balance my school and social life. I also still had upperclassmen to look up to in my clubs and to give advice on how to handle certain situations.
But then junior year came, and I began to feel the weight of the responsibilities placed on my shoulders. I was now the leader of the clubs I was once at the bottom of, and many of the upperclassmen I’d turn to for advice were gone and had moved onto the next stage of their lives.
With four APs and no study halls, schoolwork was no longer just a walk in the park. My academic breaking point was with the AP Language “This is America” project, which was the first time I had ever sacrificed a full night of sleep for an assignment. After that project, it became normal for me to stay up later than necessary so I could do homework and still have time on my phone.
The only time I would see my friends outside of school was at school dances and for activities related to extracurriculars. I knew that the next year, I would have to change my schedule to accommodate the things that really mattered to me.
Unfortunately, this did not happen. Things began to slip through the cracks as I fell asleep in my morning classes, turned in some of my assignments late for the first time ever and slipped away from the standard to which I had always held myself: being a perfect student.
Despite my complications with academics, I could always turn to my activities for respite. Many of the people in my clubs turned into my closest friends, and I no longer felt like my school and personal lives were two different versions of me. I was even lucky enough to go on educational trips with my various groups to Washington D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Orlando and Ireland.
One of my favorite activities throughout high school has been writing for The Explorer. In the past four years, my writing has evolved from a basic string of words to articles I am immensely proud of. I still keep every issue I’ve contributed to in a box in my house, so I can look at them once I hopefully am published in papers printed around the globe.
Without The Explorer, I would have never realized my love of writing and reporting on the lives of those around me. Next year, I will attend Washington and Lee University in Virginia to major in Journalism. I also plan to write for The Ring-tum Phi, their campus newspaper.
My final advice to any underclassmen who may be in a similar situation of taking on a lot all at once is to weigh whether your “yes” is worth it. If you can still find a balance between school work, clubs and friends, don’t shy away from signing up for a new thing you may be interested in. But at the same time, every person can only handle a certain amount of activities, and sacrificing your sleep to be everything at once is not worth it.
I admit that I took on too much in high school and suffered in ways I could have avoided. But despite always being on the go, I don’t regret my high school experience. The unexpected friends I made through activities and during classes are some of the relationships I hold closest to my heart, including that with my Co-Editor-in-Chief, Greta Knipe. Every moment I felt I missed out on was switched out for a memory I’m glad I had and cherish more than through planned get-togethers.
Thank you, Hudson High, for allowing me to make memories in some of the most unexpected ways.
