June 10th, 2016

By Carina Carrera-Flores, Elizabeth Castillo, and Astrid Onesto

High school is an adjective phrase that means “a school attended after junior high school and usually consisting of grades 9 or 10 through 12.” Teens spend approximately four years in high school and learn many valuable lessons like time management, organization, and being able to work with others. Throughout the four years of high school, we are expected to follow rules, do our homework, attend all of our classes, and on top of that, to always be on time! Towards the end of the year, freshmen are barely getting the gist of it, sophomores are starting to understand the ins and the outs of the school, juniors are trying to survive, and seniors just want to get out. We asked a freshman to tell us what she thinks of high school now that she has completed her first year. Julissa Villasenor says, “I expected high school to be a lot harder, but it is just like middle school. Something I would change about high school is all the drama that happens. I wish there was more time to socialize with friends. I enjoy coming to school because it is where I have many people that I can talk to when I have something going on that’s bothering me.”  Little do they know that high school will go by fast, like the blink of an eye. Some are struggling because they skipped classes, never listened to their teachers or do their work, while others are on track and are trying to keep up through the rest of their high school years. It is never too late to fix the mistakes. There is always help in PHS to receive all the credits needed to graduate.

The incoming seniors are really excited  for prom, parties, college, and getting out of high school. Can you blame them? We have all experienced or are going to experience the feeling. It feels like a lifetime being in high school and that we’ll never leave but the senior year will probably be amazing, but it’s all about the student’s perspective on his or her senior year. Half of the time they probably won’t show up for class, and even if they do they probably will be in sweats for their last year of high school. While the sophomores are still working hard and juniors busting their butts for SAT’s, the smarter balanced assessment, as well as AP testing. So when they become seniors they will get to relax a little and focus on applying for college. For those 2016 seniors that are done with high school, it will be the last time they’ll have to deal with the young annoying students that think they know it all and the teachers giving so much work and homework. The chaos of fire drills, lock-ins, and earthquake drills. Debating on whether or not they should show up for class because they really need those Dutch Bros rebels to keep them awake and energized for class. Their graduation day will be the last time they will be able to talk to and see 90% of the people they know in the school, all wandering around in their blue and red wavy robes and squared-off hats. The underclassmen will be watching their fellow classmates walking down, accepting their high school diplomas for which they worked hard to get for 12 years.  Those endless nights of studying hard for tests, and those long senior projects and speeches were definitely worth the time. A lot of them are the first generation of their family to graduate high school as well as to be accepted in to a college. They will be enjoying their summer with family and friends before they get ready for their next journey in life,  and face the big world head on. Many of them will work hard in college for the degree they want to pursue for their desired career, learning how to balance a check, make a mortgage work, and probably taking out a loan for their education. This is a new chapter for them to leave everything behind, doing everything for the last time and having to start all over again. They feel like they just turned 12 two days ago. None of them feel ready, but they have no choice but to grow up and do everything on their own.

High school was not how everyone expected it to be. “It wasn’t any high school musical type of stuff,” says one student. Surprisingly, some say they didn’t even think much of high school, they “just went in there and did what they had to do.” We asked one student what he would do differently if he could start high school over again and he said, “I wish I would’ve dressed differently and maybe went in with a more serious mindset.” Many seniors say they’ve changed a lot since freshman year; they say they’ve matured and can finally start living the life they’ve been wanting to live. High school has helped in that we’re taught not only the essentials  like reading, writing and math, but also how to determine right and wrong. In our teenage years we go through many trial and errors, we lose friends and we gain friends and we eventually learn how to choose the right people as well as surround ourselves with positivity. Throughout high school us teens start to learn things about ourselves. One student said, “I’m better than my own expectations.” We set goals for ourselves and say we’re gonna do this and that yet we always catch ourselves procrastinating. Students always say, “oh I can do this at home,” or “I’ll finish this at school,” but the probability of it happening is about 40%. At the end of the day, high school is just another part of life that we have to do, some put in effort and some don’t. It all just depends on how badly a person wants to be successful.

 

Finally, some popular memories students have consist mostly with being involved in sports, bus-rides, games, and practices are where the best memories happen. Student athletes are more likely to create lifelong friendships because they see their classmates in a different setting and spend lots of time with them. One popular piece of advice that seniors have for underclassmen is,“Don’t get lost in the sauce,” meaning that we shouldn’t stray from our goals of graduating and becoming who we want to be in the future. To wrap all this up we asked seniors to describe high school in two words and many of them said “life changing.” Why? “Because that’s where I met the most important people, and they were the most important years of my life because they molded me into the person I am today and who I will become.”

Congratulations to all the graduating Phoenix High School seniors! You did it. Good luck in your new journey and the beginning of this new chapter.