The new school year gives students a chance to start over and set goals for what they want to achieve. However, more often than not the goals aren’t always accomplished. Now that the first quarter has come to an end, students now have a chance to reflect on their performance. I was most interested in learning what their expectations were vs what actually happened. The three students I talked to shared some insight with me on what worked for them and what didn’t. Along with that I also was fortunate enough to learn a little bit about each person and what their struggles and accomplishments were.
Toby Livingstone (12) said his biggest goal for the first quarter was to pass all of his classes and to maintain a good gpa for college. A problem a lot of students struggle with is procrastination. Like most of us Toby struggles with this too, he said that he “procrastinates a lot” resulting in anxiousness about doing good work. This leads to a really negative cycle and then nothing is completed because he doesn’t think the work is “good enough to turn in.” When asked what his hardest class this year was he didn’t have to think about it before saying physics. He explained to me that it’s a lot of new material that he hasn’t learned before which can be difficult for him to understand. Despite his difficult classes, he told me that his favorite class was independent art. One of his biggest passions is creating and expressing himself. Fortunately for him this class has given him a new opportunity to do what he loves. A class he wasn’t expecting to enjoy was British and World Literature Honors. He says that he enjoys what he’s learning and likes what they’ve read in class.
Sierra Loftus, a senior, said that she wanted to get good grades as she is also starting to apply for college. When asked if she procrastinates she answered yes, she explained that she finds it hard to balance school and working at our local restaurant “Marleys” as a hostess. One of her hardest classes this year is Probability and Statistics. Math has unfortunately been a long time struggle for her and doesn’t come as easy to her as other subjects do. Her favorite class is Western Civilization. She expressed how much she loves learning from Dr. Harris or as most know him “Doc.” Sierra went online as a freshman but quickly realized that it wasn’t the best option for her, unfortunately a result of that is she is taking chemistry as a senior. Although she described this as a setback, she said that she unexpectedly enjoys the class. Sierra described her senior year as a ‘weird and full circle moment” as her eighth grade year was cut short and first year in high school was greatly affected by covid. She referred to the feeling as “bittersweet” as she has only a couple months left here at Bloomsburg High School and she moves onto bigger things.
Sydney Schraeder, another fellow senior, wasn't the first to say that she also wanted to get good grades. She intended to aim higher than 80s in her classes, as she wants to do the best she can. Sydney also said that procrastination is a big problem for her. Senoritis has definitely kicked in and she struggles with feeling motivated. Her hardest class this year so far has been human anatomy and physiology. She told me she didn’t have a very good start to the class as the curriculum is very strong in biology. It also takes a lot of “studying and memorization skills.” Unexpectedly her favorite class has become Probability and Statistics because she understands the work and enjoys Mr. Kakayley’s “Monday morning conversations.” This year has been completely different for Sydney because she has a Co-Op. She attends school for only four periods and then goes to the “Geisinger Medical Center '' to get hands-on experience in a healthcare setting. Although doing a co-op comes with pros and cons because while Sydney is learning and experiencing new opportunities in a healthcare setting, her priorities have shifted and she has less time during the day to get schoolwork done, especially on days when she goes from Co-op straight to her part-time job at Walmart.
While interviewing these students I got to learn a little bit about each person’s day-to-day schedule and how the first quarter affected them. Whether they were satisfied with how the quarter went or disappointed there is still time to improve. Fortunately, there are three more quarters for them to succeed to the best of their ability.
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