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By Abigail Amare
Junior year of high school is a pivotal chapter for students. It is filled with many milestones like earning a driver’s license, participating in sports and taking on more responsibilities overall. Yet, for many juniors at Woodward Academy, academics are the centerpiece of their experience. Some embrace the challenge while others feel understandably overwhelmed.
Reagan Gary ‘26 mentions this year as crucial and difficult. For many people, it is a period of transition and learning responsibility through the management of multiple demands as well as short and long term goals.
“It’s definitely overwhelming because junior year is often considered one of the most overwhelming years that you have…,” Reagan said. “It definitely took me a month to get into the swing of things.”
The most common topic that surfaces in conversations between juniors is college. From both family and teachers, constant questioning about the future can prove to be quite intimidating. Maddie James ‘26 notes the fear this brings.
“It’s definitely stressful…,” Maddie said. “ I don’t really know what I want to study yet.”
Although most are overwhelmed, they know it’s a critical time to think about the future and the plans ahead. Maya West ‘26 touches on prep and how the value of starting early is much more beneficial in the long run.
“It’s a really good time to be thinking about colleges because, if you really like the college, you should apply Early Action… so you should know what they’re looking for and how to prep your application already,” Maya said.
A proactive approach is seen through Lillian Stokes ‘26, who argues for reflection early on.
“It’s never really too early to start thinking about your future,” Lillian said. “At least, like, get an overview.”
However, not all students want to dive into college preparation too early. Some students like to focus on more immediate concerns before tackling application logistics.
“I definitely feel like second-semester junior year is the right time to start getting into it,” Maddie said. “But I feel like for the first semester, I feel… we should just focus on, like, ourselves and schoolwork mostly because it is an important year.”
Maddie’s concerns support another common concern: junior year’s workload. Danielle Simpson ‘26 expressed her frustrations on this matter and how this has taken a big change in her junior year.
“I don’t really think it [junior year’s] that easy,” Danielle said. “You know, it’s a lot of work trying to stay on top of your grades and all your classwork, but also going to practice and making sure you do well in that, too.”
Junior year is also a year that requires you to take challenging classes–which require more focus and attention–on top of other outside-of-school activities. Andie Hilliard ‘26 touches on this subject and explains how it has made an impact on her life. She emphasizes the importance of finding balance.
“Academics have been harder, so I have to spend more time on that than I previously have,” Andie said. “But I think I still have a good amount of free time, and I cut back on some of my extracurriculars, personally. ”
Some students find it necessary to reduce the time they spend with friends, too.
“If your friends wanna hang out every weekend, but you know you have something important to do like a test that Monday, it’s okay to say no,” Lillian said. “You have to think about your future.”
Many students also have different opinions on how their work and persistence play a role in their life as a future college student. Some, like Maya, feel that the hard work they put in will finally pay off in the end.
“If you put hard work in, then you can get, like, good results out of it,” Maya said.
On the other hand, others feel that this hard work may or may not be all worth it in the end because of the education system. Some find it impossible to keep up with the standards that most colleges have for students today. Reagan worries that juniors can help develop valuable real-world skills, but not give the scores that colleges are looking for.
“I feel like it has real-world benefits, but for colleges, not so much,” Reagan said.