Change is both rapid and abundant from the ages of 0-18, and some may argue that the four formative years of high school (9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade) are where this change is most ubiquitous. Because of this, each September symbolizes a metamorphosis of maturity, wisdom, and self for us teens. We are different people as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors; as each new school year gains momentum, everyone must answer for themselves this question: “What does the dawn of a new year mean for me?”
The Freshmen
Many 10th, 11th, and 12th graders share a disdain for the freshmen—even the most forgiving seniors roll their eyes when coming across freshmen friend groups barricading the hallway. The way that they tastelessly disregard the unofficial student code of conduct can turn even the calmest upperclassmen catty. And freshmen seem to exist on either one of two polar opposite (yet equally cringeworthy) ends of a spectrum: abominably overconfident or cripplingly shy. Yet many fail to see that freshmen are simply adapting to their new environment. Whether they camouflage into the background or adopt new traits is up to them. But the timeless truth is this: while they might get bitten a few times, this toughens their skin for the daunting years ahead.
The Sophomores
The word sophomore comes from the Greek sophos (wise) and moros (fool). In other words, sophomores are wise fools—a truer statement has never been said. Sophomores practice the art of nonchalance: flying under the radar while simultaneously trying to become the person they’ve always envisioned. They’ve learned the futility of feigning shyness or confidence, so they experiment with crafting a harmonious blend of coolness and creativity that allows them to relinquish their freshmen fears in order to embrace their newfound individuality. However, they also face the burden of a new challenge: figuring out who they are and how they want to represent themselves as they begin to understand they have the world at their fingertips. As a result, these wise fools take their sophomore year to figure themselves out, forging paths as independent individuals before taking pride in their most splendid attributes.
The Juniors
Juniors, early on, are at a strange threshold in their high school careers, and perhaps their most awaited milestone yet: the halfway point. They straddle the sempiternal self-doubt that strikes all freshmen and that glowing, gorgeous sense of conviction that seniors emanate so seamlessly. Sure, even the sharpest junior’s grammatical prowess slips their mind on an English quiz here and there. Yet the academic knowledge juniors lack is compensated for by their fluency in even the most nuanced constructions of the language of adolescence, something adults may fail to grasp. Many may also fail to see that the junior year is a kaleidoscope. Juniors have a vibrant sense of adolescence, which blends with the vivid hues of their childhood as an introspective, radiant light pours in—the earliest semblance of adulthood. These diverse mediums react, yielding an exquisite palette of experience and maturity that shines from juniors in bursts of saturated color, brilliant ideas that glow in their communities and on their most expansive blank canvases yet: their lives.
The Seniors
If juniors stew up cyclonic storms of vivid ideas, seniors carry themselves with a stillness reminiscent of a hurricane’s eye. To the naked eye, they are stone monoliths: imposing, powerful, untouchable. To the junior, the threshold between under and upperclassmen is the most daring one to cross, with their growing responsibility seemingly only a side effect of this. Yet, while seniors epitomize wisdom and sophistication among their peers, they perceive the world around them with heightened clarity. Now contextualize that stillness so that you may see a senior with heightened clarity. You’ll find that the stillness of a senior originates from the bone-chilling realization that every step has taken them to the edge of a precipice—one that looms over the rest of their lives. In a few short months, they will be free-falling. Here, beneath the vast, blue-domed sky of life, there are neither locker-lined halls to walk, nor familiar faces to count on seeing day after day: a prospect both exhilarating and paralyzing. This is the primary concern of a senior. Sure, they excel in those aspects of life that freshmen exalt. (As mentioned, seniors are the epitomes of “cool” among their peers). Yet their encyclopedic knowledge of the high school experience becomes silly to them as they finally grasp the significance of the number 18.
