With finals just around the corner, I am thrilled to say how happy I am that the school year is almost over. It has been so different and the laziness from the school year almost being over is definitely kicking in. When I look back at the beginning of the year, I just remember, like always, how I hope to have a good year and that everything just meets my expectations, and surprisingly it has. Looking at the school year overall, it was a breeze somehow.

At the start of the year, the only thing I vividly remember is worrying about masks, trying to get into the routine of wearing one, and wiping down everything. I never complained much since I was protecting not only my life but my classmates’ lives as well. But somehow, I got so used to COVID that it seems off not seeing anyone not clean anything or wear a mask. It made me realize how we really don’t sanitize things as much as we should or focus on how sick we can get with just being close to a friend or some person. Just thinking about next year and how we might not wear masks makes me feel so off and weird. But what else was just weird this year is how well our school handled everything.

Throughout the beginning and middle of the school year, I knew I took a big risk going in person rather than virtual learning. I just knew that there was going to be that ONE student who has to be selfish and go to that party, not wear their mask, or not even believe in the virus, which of course there were multiple who were. Even though Northland faced some issues with students receiving the virus, I think it was cool how they were able to ensure everyone’s safety on the campus. I also liked how we had days dedicated to deep cleanings which I believe should be continuing in the future.

Besides that, I also found the school year a breeze not only because Northland handled the virus so well, it’s also because I was able to maintain all A’s throughout the school year. I think for once I actually had amazing teachers all across the board for each class that I was able to grasp and understand the information easily. I was barely stressed, which was a common theme throughout my years of high school so far, and I was never given too many assignments. I also was not stressed out or as annoyed about sports this year. Sports went well for me. In Cross Country, the team did an amazing job at State and showed a lot of progress in times. In Soccer, the team really bonded well, had new players, and had a playoff game. In Track, we did amazing as many people went to State this year and many of us placed. 

Just looking back it’s weird how it did not seem that far but back at the start of the year I felt like it was so long for the school year just to be over. Now that I technically have one week left of school, I’m just at the point where I’m done, but I am trying to push myself to the end. But what has made me excited this past week is how I get to exempt three classes which only lets me take one exam for finals. Not only does that mean less work for me, it means that I am done with school earlier. I am shocked to say that this would probably be my favorite year of highschool and definitely my most memorable, but I will have to see if that will last once Senior year.

There was also a period of time during the school year where most of the Juniors were freaking out about how close we are to graduating and being Seniors. Weirdly enough, I’m not nervous or sad, I’m pretty happy with how I’m almost done with high school. But overall, looking back at my Junior year it has been the best year out of all my years at Northland Chrisitan. This year came out better than expected… for sure.