After following a great summer it was time to face one of the biggest challenges. Junior Year. This is now the present, I don’t have to speak as it were many years ago. This has been by far the hardest year so far. This year I am taking Physics at the college, Trigonometry, AP English, AP History, and ASB. The year started out by the FIRE orientation where I had originally been at when I was a freshman. It was fun seeing where I had been when I was freshman. Everybody looked anxious and didn’t know what to do. I was partnered up with Katie Teshima to keep our freshmen in order. We were assigned ten freshmen to look after and we were assigned Mr. Perfect’s room. We introduced ourselves first then went around the room and made the FIRE students introduce themselves. We then started playing a series of games and at the end of each game there would be a moral to it or would require teamwork to create bonds between everyone. We did many different activities for about three hours then each student left so that they may meet their teachers. They visited each of their teachers and once they had met them all, they were free to go home. Once the FIRE orientation had been completed, there was two more weeks then junior year began.
The day junior started we hit the ground running. We had taken notes, assignments, and more on our first day. This wasn’t unexpected, but the transition back into the “school phase” was sudden. In AP History we were given a chapter packet that would be an introduction to how America was to be formed, and in ASB we were focused on helping the students of Foothill, especially freshmen, by putting up posters and giving out candy. The following day on Wednesday I had Trigonometry with Mr. Kellogg and my following class was AP English. I was introduced to during fourth period when she gave a quick speech on what we were going to cover that year and so forth. All of the interesting topics fueled my passion for AP. The first several weeks went fine in the homework area, but not to well in the sleep sector. I found it difficult to wake up in the morning, but after a while it wasn’t as strenuous. Another occurrence was Raurie Lindermann and I coordinated our first Renaissance Friday together, as that was our job within ASB. I enjoyed the job, because there was something new every two weeks.
After a month after the school year had begun, our physics class at the college started. It was basic physics taught by Paul Swanson, who, in previous years, was a major coordinator at JPL. It was rather intimating when my brother and I walked in, because the only students were ones who were much older then us. We found a seat near the back and listened attentively to the introduction of his class. From my standpoint, this was going to be an awesome class.
One new opportunity was that all juniors were now able to leave campus during lunch. This opened all sorts of cuisines just down the street, such as Dominos, Fresh N Easy, Snapper Jacks, and more. Once a week I would head down there with my friends and choose from what they had to offer, but most of the time I was unable to go because I had become very prone to losing my ID card. The irritating part was that the lady who checked if you were allowed to go off campus knew who I was, but would still refuse to let me off. I didn’t understand, because she knew who I was and I didn’t require identification, but it was not worth arguing over. After a challenging quarter of school we were able to have the relaxing fall break. My family and I spent it in Canada looking for colleges to go to, since we were Canadian citizens and would be able pay as local students and not international students which is almost double the price. We started by looking at McGill University, and it was extremely old, but yet an amazingly prestigious college. We had an old family member who worked there and gave us a superb tour when we were there. If I had the opportunity to go to that school, I would take it in a heartbeat. We also checked out the University of Toronto and Queens University, but were not even close to comparison. We returned to Ventura the night before break ended just in time to get a good night sleep.
The rest of that quarter remained the usual of studying for tests and quizzes, along with homework, but a new threat was brewing. Finals. Finals were now beginning to be seen on the horizon and studying was now becoming an option. From the end of fall break to winter break we were beginning to hear what type of finals we would have. I would have to study for my physics, trig, and AP classes. Since this winter break didn’t have anything scheduled, except for Christmas gatherings among the family, I would have time to complete my commonplace book and study for finals that were to come. Over the winter break I saw a few movies and hung out with some friends, but when there was no activity, I was hitting the books. When Christmas came, we unwrapped gifts that we had received and after that we went to our cousins house all the way in Westminster, which was a painful two-hour drive. We had jolly family reunion and had a great dinner and exchanged small gifts between one another. We spent about five hours there until it was time to return and then we headed back to Ventura. My brother and I spent the rest of the break doing miscellaneous activities until school started once again. When school returned we were told to prepare for finals and that’s exactly what I am doing. So lets dance Finals, hit me with your best shot.