What grade in high school would you say was the most challenging and why?

Julianna Bullaro, Writer

Naturally high school comes with many memorable moments, but also comes with its unavoidable challenges. There are always more challenging years than others throughout high school that may be different from person to person. I wanted to put this question to the test and see what kind of answers I would get from fellow students, so I interviewed five other high school seniors from Hauppauge and asked them “What grade in high school would you say was the most challenging and why?”

Student Interviews

The first person I interviewed was Vanessa and when asked what her most challenging year of high school was she responded with “senior year.” When I asked her why she answered by saying, “In your senior year you take the most challenging courses and you have to do your college supplements at the same time.” Senior year can be overshadowed by the stress of college applications and taking difficult classes and it builds up over time with nerves on making it out of the winter season alone. The second person I interviewed was Matt and he shared opinions similar to the first interviewee. When asked about his most difficult high school year he replied “Senior year.” I was curious to know more since this was the second time this answer was showing up, and Matt said that college is what made it all that more stressful and challenging. Gearing up to make a college decision and maintaining the grades to stay away from catching senioritis made it a challenging year so far.

The third person I interviewed was Natalie, and her response contrasted with the others since she recalled her junior year as the most difficult year of high school for her. She also added, “I was so busy with kickline and dance that year.” The juggling of schoolwork and passions outside of school with dance and being on the kickline team was quite hard to balance. Moving on to the fourth person I interviewed, which was Megan, she replied that her most difficult was her junior year. She recalled that she was quite busy her junior year with extracurricular activities and schoolwork as well, and this made it hard to keep up with her schedule. The final person I interviewed was Sofia and for the third time senior year was brought up in this interviewing process. When I asked her for a reason for her response she replied “The senioritis is starting to hit and I’m trying to keep up my grades for college acceptances but the classes I’m taking are difficult.” Taking challenging courses senior year while combating senioritis was her most prominent challenge this year so far and college is stressing her out, just like it seems to be the case for many other senior students at Hauppauge.

Author’s Opinion

So far this year has been the roughest for me academically and physically, and it is my senior year at Hauppauge High School. Trying to maintain my grades to the level they were in previous years is much harder since the classes I chose to take are the most difficult I’ve taken in my high school career, and with college right around the corner, the pressure to succeed has been more forceful than it has in the past. In my mind senior year was supposed to be the year I would get to relax the most and enjoy my last moments of high school, but I’ve found it to not be all that enjoyable so far. Some of my classes have been more of a pain than others, such as AP chemistry which is the 4th hardest AP course out of 28 since the material is genuinely difficult to grasp. Hopefully, the last few months of my senior year can make up for it once all my college applications are behind me.

What to Take Away From Student Interviews

Not every single high school student is going to agree with each of the interviewees’ or myself’s answers because everyone struggles with different things or pressures throughout high school. However it does seem to be a common trend that the last two years of high school tend to be the most stressful for students, but it’s up to you to make the best of every year of high school so make it count!