Going into junior year of high school everyone says it’s the hardest and most stressful year of high school. Everyone says if you haven’t cried over school yet that this will be the year. Everyone says that this year determines your entire college career. Although these commonly said thoughts can be partially true, junior year is also one of the best years.

Junior year is the first year as an upperclassman. This means you can boss around the freshman like you always have secretly wanted to. However, you also get to show your leadership skills to them and be a positive factor in their lives. Whether this means getting them involved at the football games to cheer or simply helping them to class. You never truly realize how much the underclassmen look up to upperclassmen until you are in their shoes.

This year is also the first big year of freedom you earn. At this point you have been able to develop great relationships with your teachers, or even old teachers and staff. Having these relationships only benefits you to gain much more freedom in the school and have adults you can trust or just talk to. Sitting closer to the front of the football and basketball stands and being able to be more involved is one of the best benefits with junior year. These games will be some of the highlights of your entire high school experience. It is true that senior year you will gain even more freedom, but junior year still compares much better than underclassman years.

Junior year may be rough and feel like the end of the world at times. It may be stressful with starting to look at colleges. It may be stressful with the rigorous class load you take. It may be stressful with the ACT and many other tests. However, in the end it is one of the best years yet. This year will have some of the best memories and be the most fun yet. Teachers understand that it may be difficult at times and are always great to express that feeling to. There is so much more than rigor and stress to junior year.