As the school year comes to a close, many students are reflecting on how high school has gone for them so far. In seniors’ case, many may be reminiscing on their entire high school experience. For freshmen, they have only year to look back on.

Some seniors, such as Maxx Espinosa, look back on their high school career with mixed feelings.

My least favorite part [of WJ] was how cliquey the student population got at times, but my favorite part was also the diversity,” said Espinosa. “While certain groups were very exclusive, there were several other friends you could make.”

Fellow senior Michelle Curtin cites different aspects of WJ as her best-liked and least-liked parts of high school.

“Busywork was definitely the least favorite, because it wasted so much time,” said Curtin.

She said her involvement as one of the football team managers was the highlight of high school.

“I liked the football team, but because I was involved in it,” said Curtin.

So what advice can seniors give to freshmen?

As for schoolwork, Espinosa says not to stress.

“Junior year is probably the most stressful… but you have to learn to minimize your stress,” said Espinosa. “You have to… realize that grades are not everything.”

Curtin advises freshmen to care about classwork and tests.

“You need to do [classwork] because it will affect your grades, but at the same time it’s not going to be [worth] as much as a giant test so you need to balance [schoolwork],” said Curtin.

However, she prioritizes sleep over work.

“Sleep is more important than homework,” said Curtin.

Freshman Farzona Shukurova did not find her workload to be particularly hard this year.

“Not having too much homework is great….[but] a lot of quizzes are not retakeable, which is so sad,” said Shukurova.

However, she also said that managing her social life was hard due to the fact that WJ has such a large population.

“There were so many new kids,” said Shukurova.

Espinosa said that having friends is an important part of being happy in high school.

“You have to find time for your friends because that’s very important to staying happy and keeping your head above water,” said Espinosa.

Curtin agrees, and said that social life and schoolwork are both important, and therefore one should not be placed before the other.

“You do need the balance of people in your life and school, but you can’t let one or the other take priority,” said Curtin.

Shukurova said that she wishes to join more clubs next year, in addition to getting more Student Service Learning (SSL) hours.

Espinosa said that extracurriculars, especially clubs, are fun.

“Clubs are always fun, you meet a lot of friends… I always say go out for sports, that’s a lot of fun, even if you don’t make the team,” said Espinosa.

He also encourages students to run for a position as a class officer.

“I ran for [SGA] president. I didn’t make it, but what’s the worse that could happen? People say no,” said Espinosa

Curtin also agrees with him about sports.

“[Sports are] definitely worth doing, and you should be able to manage your time for it,” said Curtin.

Espinosa said that he wish he had known where he wanted to go to college when he entered his freshman year.

“I wish I would have mapped out my high school career and after that, because as you lead up into junior and senior year it all just kind of falls on you,” said Espinosa, referring to studying for the SAT and planning for college.

Curtin said that she, as a freshman, should have known that high school is not how some people portray it to be.

“It’s not as a big deal as people say it is, and it’s a change but it’s not as dramatic [as people say],” said Curtin.

Shukurova believes that her freshman year went better than expected.

“It was way easier [than I thought it would be]. I was always stressing about it in 8th grade but it turned out not to be bad,” said Shukurova.

She had previously heard that freshmen year was the easiest year.

“I heard that freshmen year will be so fun and probably the most relaxing year… It’s also the year to show yourself,” Shukurova said.

She also had advice to offer for incoming freshmen.

“Just be yourself, try to make lots of friends right when you come in…. And get [SSL hours] done early,” said Shukurova.