The long stressful school year comes down to an end: congratulations, you survived. The hardest year of my academic career is finally over, and I couldn’t be more excited. 

My junior year was overly stressful for no reason. Junior year is described as the hardest year in a student’s life because it is the year your grades count. Students are required to take a ridiculous amount of testing and keep their grades above average to have colleges interested in them. Not to mention, they are expected to balance a large amount of extracurriculars so that one’s resume is the best it can be.

I found that during my junior year, I did not have much support from my counselors or other administration members. Counselors at Lockport claim that they are there for the students for any questions a student might have, but I found that anytime I had questions I would usually get responses like, “I’m not sure of that,” “Let me check with my colleagues and follow up on that,” or “I don’t have that kind of information.” Usually the same type of vague answers over and over. If I asked teachers any questions about preparation for college, it would usually be the response to check Schoolinks. 

Lockport counselors NEVER respond to any emails from students. The only time I can ever get my counselor to respond back to my email is if I include both my mother and the guidance office secretary’s email address in the same email. Why is it that counselors ignore students’ emails, but when parents or another staff member is included in an email then the counselor’s decide to respond back to the student?

 Lockport counselors have just begun to pull students into their compass in the past month to talk about next year opportunities, and how to prepare for college. Why weren’t they doing this first semester? Second semester junior students are being told all of the requirements for next year, mainly that their tests and grades are needed to be impeccable from this year for their resume. Why weren’t we told this first semester? If I knew this first semester, then I wouldn’t be stressing at the end of the year to have my grades perfect. 

Teachers reiterate that every grade counts and to stay on top of your work, but teachers continue to pile work on students causing extra amounts of stress. There is only a week left of school and I’m learning new lessons in three different classes, and testing them by the end of the week. 

Junior year is already stressful as is. Let’s make it easier for all students and put more effort in answering students’ questions, and work harder to take the stress off of students. There should be protocols in place to make sure that the stress isn’t overwhelming for students. For instance, have a sit down conversation with students and take the time to answer their questions. Instead of taking twenty minutes in a students’ work time to have them aimlessly scroll on Schoolinks, sit next to them and have those needed conversations. Also, let’s take time during the school year to have dedicated days where students can meet with their counselors instead of talking to the counselors for thirty minutes in compass. Finally, talk to your students! Be their support system, and listen to them if they are stressed. Not everybody has that outlet, and as a Porter we should all strive to be a friend to others. After all, we’re supposed to be better together.