To keep the overlords of my D203 Chromebook happy, senior year has been one h-e-double- hockey-sticks of a year. Reflecting back on my time as a senior thus far, I realize that some of the cliches that I have heard about a senior year are absolutely true, and others are flat-out lies. I am here to reinforce the helpful ones and debunk the ones straight out of a Netflix Rom-Com.
This is me on a college visit to the University of Rochester over the summer. I began the college search ridiculously early on. When the second semester of freshman year (yes, freshman year) rolled around, I considered myself a seasoned high school student, ready to begin planning for the next phase of life. My college list has shifted quite significantly since then. I credit that to the information sessions and tours, both in-person and virtually.
VERY TRUE CLICHE #1: Tour your schools!
This was one of the biggest factors that allowed me to pair down my list. After this trip to Rochester, I learned that I really prioritize green spaces and a cozy campus atmosphere. When I took a trip to Boston later in the summer to tour Boston University and Northeastern, I didn’t like them nearly as much as Rochester. I knew exactly why! BU and Northeastern both lacked green space, and had large roads and trains cutting across campus. Pinning down the factors that make a school right for you speeds up the process of narrowing your focus onto the schools you really want to go to.
The pandemic put a wrench in a lot of plans. The most notable for my family was my sister, Hope, staying at home for her freshman year of college. As a 2020 grad, many universities were not yet equipped to safely bring back their student population. Hope’s school, Depaul, decided to go remote for the entire 2020-2021 year. I was disappointed by this decision, I was ready for her to leave! I wanted my own bathroom and full control of the car that we shared. Fast forward to September of this year, and I was singing a different tune.
VERY VERY TRUE CLICHE #2: Cherish the time you spend with your siblings!
Saying goodbye to Hope was one of the most difficult things I have done this year, and it has been a big adjustment to live without her. I have still not yet come to terms with the reality that I will likely never live permanently with her again. The extra year I got to spend with her was unexpected, but I loved every minute of it.
DO NOT BE FOOLED BY MY CHEERY DISPOSITION IN THESE PHOTOS. Until this year, I avoided the famed “FNL” like the plague. I thought that football games were a pointless use of my time and much preferred the Friday Night Movie Night my friend and I chose as our Friday night activity for the first 2 years of high school. 1 year of remote learning later, I decided to embrace this peak Midwestern experience. Unlike some other NNHS traditions which I found to be thoroughly enjoyable, football games did not live up to my expectations.
Debunked Cliche #1: Football games are NOT AS MUCH FUN as the movies make them out to be.
Living in Illinois, the weather will inevitably be an issue, but MY GOODNESS, Mother Nature has not been kind to Naperville Illinois this year. It seemed like every other game was either rainy, cold, or both. Add to it the fact that the Dawg pound stands for the entire game and I was cold, wet, and tired of standing. The 11 PM McDonald’s I enjoyed post-game was ten times better than the game itself. Unless your high school experience feels incomplete without standing in the rain for 3 hours packed like sardines metal bleachers, skip the game. Or not, your choice 🙂
I am sharing my most groundbreaking discovery of 2021 with all you readers, so do not take this lightly. Peet’s > Starbucks. I realize that this may be a controversial opinion, thus I will be providing the itemized list which has led to this conclusion.
The beans Starbucks uses are over-roasted and lead to bitter coffee. - Starbucks uses PRE-SWEETENED MATCHA POWDER. For those of you who may not be as obsessed with Matcha as I am, this is a big no-no. At Peet’s, you are able to omit the simple syrup.
- It is close to school, and there is never a line on Wednesdays. This is very convenient and a big difference from the 10 minutes I used to spend standing in line at Starbucks Freshman year when I could have been sleeping in.
- This is subjective of course, but I have found that in general, Pete’s baristas are more visually appealing to the eye, than those at Starbucks.
Debunked Cliche #2: High School Students do not run Starbucks. (not this one at least)
To close off my list, I present you with a classic case of high school burnout. Coming into this year, I wanted to be involved in as much as possible, to really squeeze the most fun out of my last year of high school. I joined more activities than the lengthy list of those I was already involved in. I spent any extra free time on my weekends hanging out with my friends and angering my mother in the process by returning home after curfew almost every weekend. IT is fun, but it can also be exhausting.
Debunked Cliche #3: You do not need to spend every waking minute of senior year involved in activities and/or being social.
Taking some time for yourself is SO SO important, and something that is often easily pushed to the wayside. My 2022 resolution is to take more time for myself!
Cheers to 2022.
Willow,
As someone who likes to think that they appreciate their siblings, I agree with your notion that you should cherish the time with your siblings during your senior year. Often, they can be the only people that truly understand your struggles, so it is important to support your siblings and maintain a good relationship with them as often as possible. Like you said in response to my post, we both have added plenty of stresses to our own lives, as well as expectations that we wanted to meet, and both ended up struggling to some extent because of it. In my case, it was mostly self-inflicted in a sense that I could have had it all hunky-dory had I just managed my time better, but I can still definitely understand your perspective and I respect you for being able to balance everything you are taking with all the extracurriculars that you had to add on while still being able to get everything done. I certainly couldn’t and had to cut so many things temporarily to make all of my academic goals happen. I wish you a successful and happy time wherever you end up in the future, a wonderful winter break, and an enjoyable second semester! 🙂
-Derek Zhang
Willow,
I cannot relate to planning for college as early as you. I honestly didn’t even have a list of places I wanted to go until July, and I didn’t start my personal statement until September. I’ve only gone on one total college visit. (I’m going to go on more once I know all of my options and know I’m not wasting money going somewhere I won’t get in) However, I don’t regret it because I feel like I would’ve been so stressed out, despite feeling very mature early on in high school. I felt the same way as you about wanting to be separated from my siblings, except I’m the one who will be leaving them. I do cherish my time with them, but they make it so hard when they bully me. I agree with you to an extent on the football games. They are fun if your school wins, and they are fun if you enjoy football in general, which is why I personally like them. However, they are definitely not for everyone. I agree with your point about not always needing to be social to an extent. I think people should be as social as they can senior year because many of the people you are friends with now probably won’t be friends with you in a year or two. But I do think breaks are necessary, or at least spending one-on-one time with those most important to you is necessary.
Hey Willow, I must say that I really enjoyed this post because of the personal connections I made to it. To start off, I absolutely agree with your statement about spending time with your siblings. When my brother initially came home, I was lowkey hoping he’d leave soon because it was awkward having to share things with him. However, when he did leave, I was saddened since it felt amazing having another person I could truly relate to at home. Unfortunately, he had to go back due to his job so it was understandable. I also agree with the burnout since this year, I had my hardest schedule by far. I tried to make time for all the activities I had while trying to maintain my grades. It was stressful and I definitely crashed on my bed at times. While it definitely isnt another experience I want to have, I dont regret it as it taught me how to plan and how much I could handle at once, not just physically, but also mentally. Overall, amazing post and have a great break!
Willow,
I have to say I agree with literally all of your opinions on these high school cliches. I too visited several of my schools earlier on than most and would definitely say it helped me narrow down my list. On paper, all of these schools are great, but when visiting them, I have to be able to picture myself actually living and going to school there. If I don’t feel that vibe from the school I had to rule the school out. Likewise to your experience with your sister, mine is also a 2020 grad. I initially was also looking forward to having a bathroom and space for myself and was excited Vanderbilt chose to have their students on campus freshman year. However, the weekly facetimes don’t cut it and I wish she was home more often. In regards to football, I unfortunately also have to agree. I went to one football game the whole semester and was so bored. There’s always drama over where to sit and what to do, and as someone who knows nothing about football, I would much rather spend my time doing other things. Lastly, I also developed a newfound appreciation for Peet’s coffee. I can go there any time of the day and there will be at max 2 cars in front of me. Their coffee is pretty comparable to Starbucks so I honestly don’t see why more people haven’t discovered it yet. In all, I love this post and weirdly found that I agree with all of your points!
Hey Willow!
I really loved the formatting of this blog post! I can definitely agree with everything that you’ve stated so far–although I’ve never gone to a football game at North myself, the indifferent reactions from my friends told me enough about it to get the general gist. I think for most people it’s more of a matter of feeling connected with the school, and socializing with your friend group. I also really loved how you emphasize the importance of green space within a college campus, because I 1000% agree. I think greenery really helps to make a college campus feel so much more peaceful and refreshing in the midst of all the cinderblock classrooms and quiet study rooms. I have also gone to Peet’s a couple of times myself during lunch break and although I usually stay at Dunkin because of the cheap coffee, I do have to agree with you on your statement that their matcha is better, because it just had that hiGH QuALitY taste to it, and I definitely did not notice the quality of their drinks until senior year unfortunately. I also really love how you incorporate the pressure we feel to achieve that “senior experience”, and how really, it’s quality over quantity that will make or break your “senior year experience”.
Hi Willow,
I love the format of this blog post. There are so many cliches in high school and I found it fascinating to hear your perspective/ debunk some of them. I love your point about football games and was definitely able to relate to it. I wasn’t able to sit in the dawg pound my first couple of years of high school because I was on the Dance team. I was always envious of my friends who looked like they were having so much fun in the stands. However, after attending multiple football games this year and sitting in the dawg pound, I can confidently say that it is very deceiving. It may look and sound like fun but having to stand way too close to people in packed bleachers in inclement weather conditions is NOT FUN. Most of the time it was ridiculously hot, cold, or raining, so I cannot agree with you more. I think it’s great that you were able to visit so many colleges and get a good idea of what you are looking for before you started the application process. I wish I had done this because it would have been a lot less stressful. Overall I loved reading your blog post!
Hi Willow! I enjoyed reading this blog post, I related to a lot of your points. The point I agree with the most is to tour your colleges. This is very helpful in narrowing down what schools you like and don’t like. So far, I have toured the University of Iowa, Illinois State University, and the University of Utah. Going into each tour I was expecting one thing and ended each tour thinking something different. I was expecting to somewhat like ISU however it was mediocre and I didn’t really like it. The surrounding area wasn’t the best, the campus was ugly, and I just couldn’t picture myself there. But I was completely ok with that because a month prior I toured the University of Iowa. Let’s just say I fell in love with everything about it; the campus, the cute city it’s located in, and their dance team of course. I quickly learned that this school was at the top of my list. Next, on my vacation to Utah, my mom mentioned that we should tour the University of Utah. I was expecting to hate it however once I got there I loved it. The mountains were gorgeous and I could picture myself walking around their campus. This school is now in my top 3. Overall, I’m glad you mentioned this in your post. You did such a great job Willow!
This will be the last comment that I leave on one of your blog posts this semester Willow, and for that, I really am a little sad.
That being said, I do enjoy your little plug-in for Pete’s Coffee – especially the little bit about their baristas 😉 Honestly, this post was an amazing reminder of all the great times I have had this senior year, and I’ve been super lucky to have you to introduce me to them! I definitely think you should do a part two of this post next semester, especially as we start to experience some more high-school cliches (prom, graduation, anyone?).
I do wonder how it is you found out about the Starbucks coffee beans thing. That felt a little bit like niche insider knowledge if I do say so myself.
Awe Willow I am going to miss seeing you in AP Lit. I’ve loved getting to know you and your radiating positivity, as well as your corduroy pants! Much like your personal style, your writing is riddled with a unique voice that always makes it a pleasure to read. For this post, really like how you explored different high school cliches and their validity, as over the years I too have found that some don’t live up to expectations. My personal highlights while reading were all the pictures you included of spending time with the people you love, and I found the section about your sister to be particularly sweet. I also agree that Peet’s Coffee is superior to Starbucks! Although I haven’t tried their matcha, so that will be an adventure for another day. All in all, I really enjoy the upbeat and eclectic energy you’ve expressed through all your writing this year, especially the ending of this post in particular. As finals come to a close, I think all the seniors can relate to that feeling of burnout right now, and it’s comforting to know that you don’t have to spend all your time with other people. I hope you have a relaxing winter break where you can have some fun doing things for yourself 🙂