Chris Beebout Assignment 24

     I feel as if I have finally come into myself. Most high-schoolers view junior year as the crucible, the most rigorous and demanding test one will encounter in their academic career.

     Of course, we high-schoolers also tend towards the fallaciously dramatic.

     Yet truth resides in this idea nonetheless. The challenges of junior year spawn not primarily from the academic difficulty, the workload, the social problems, or from motivational burnout — all of which are relevant — but from the novelty of it all. You see, as we move forward into college and careers, the challenges will only continue to accumulate in power, but we will be ready. I was not, conversely, ready for this year. This year saw the first assignments that impressed upon my mind the thought, "If I don't start this right now, I will literally not have time to complete it." Before, there had always been extra time, more grace periods, and less obligations. But now, as extracurricular stack up and as teachers demand more and more and as we become more distracted by new timewasters more than ever before, things are hard. They're real. And as the stakes of our struggles manifest as we enter the college decision process, we come to know that all is changed forever, and that perhaps life will never be carefree again.

     But I've also learned that work should not scare us. Eventually we will reap our harvests, and if we have truly worked, all those in our lives will partake in the feast.