You’re panting and heaving as you push yourself through labor for the third hour in a row. People around encourage you, telling you to “push harder” and that you’ll “get through this.” Your face contorts and you break into a sweat as you finally finish and relax. In a couple days, a person with many years of education lets you take your many hour’s work back home with you. Why yes, I am talking about junior year—the most true to form “best of times, worst of times” year you’ll ever have in your academic career.

The first thought of many juniors is “Wow, I can drive!” Soon they proceed to clog up Taco Bell and various eateries around Gunn, amazed at finally being allowed to imitate the “older kids” always seen off campus during lunch. Simply put, going out to lunch rocks the first couple of times it’s done. No longer does one have to wait in long lines to buy a slice of pizza and a soda for $4—a Jumbo Jack and 4 tacos from Jack in the Box, another clogged artery (oops, I mean eatery), comes out to only $3.54. Yet eventually the novelty of going out to lunch wears off, as juniors spend more of their lunches doing (or copying) their F and G period class homework on the quad. Which brings me to my next point: academia.

Though junior year has been long feared for late nights of studying, extremely hard tests and just overall mountains of stress, its true record deserves to be set straight. No, Junior year is not as hard as they tell you—it’s harder! Stop complaining about a STAR test that doesn’t affect you at all when juniors have to take the SAT, a test that essentially determines their future. Compounding that, performance in 11th grade is apparently the best indicator for colleges on deciding if they want to accept a student. Kids are staying up late every night to barely make the grade so schools will think they’re smarter than they actually are.

But let’s be honest. The best part of junior year, after all the deception and homework and tests, is when its over—most of the stress is gone and summer of junior year to senior year is the last time to see your friends, knowing you’ll be going to the same school as them next year. Although you can drive, there’s no question about it—with all your homework and activities, you probably won’t even have the time.

What advice would you give to the class of 2007 for junior year?

“Get off the quad.” —Kathy Vining (12)

“Don’t get fourth twice in Airbands...oh wait...” —Christine Rhyu (12)

“Don’t get caught driving without a license.” —Josue Gil (12)

“You are who you are—be an individual! Don’t allow other people’s standards to be yours.” —Joann So (12)