Senior Fall

Senior fall is a notorious term for high schoolers in the US. It's a time when students are both applying to colleges but also trying to manage likely the hardest combination of courses of their high school careers. This was certainly the case for me this past term. Nonetheless, I believe times of uncertainty, stress, and difficulty are the times that build the most character and the times when I've grown the most as a person. So while I'm relishing the last couple of days of Thanksgiving break, I'm also using this time to reflect upon what I've learned during this past, unprecedented term. 

The logistical aspects of this term have certainly challenged my scheduling skills as a student. Whereas in previous terms classes were taken during the day and homework completed that night, 8 PM classes have really disrupted this norm. I'm now used to saving work given from a night class for the morning. The notion of "saving work for tomorrow morning" was something I could not imagine myself doing before. While I'm not the person who feels they have to complete assignments as soon as they're posted, I'm still the kind of student who starts assignments well before they're due. Night classes required some adjusting from that tendency of mine and personal acceptance that sometimes I won't complete everything by the time I go to bed. And that's okay. 

Due to the limitations generated by the health pandemic, I've been forced to change the way I think about socializing. While Andover gave students the option to return to the campus in the fall, I chose to stay remote for the term. Many of my friends who returned to campus mentioned in classes that they felt it wasn't the same Andover, or that it wasn't the Andover "senior year experience" because of the socializing opportunities. In this sense, I suppose everyone was on the same boat in terms of reimaging socializing. For me, texting people was the primary way I communicated. If I saw something that reminded me of someone, I would reach out to them casually. Of course, this form of communication could never replace in-person or what once was.  But I think most students have managed to navigate these foreign waters in some shape or form. 

Finally, the last important thing I experienced as a student this term was a comeback. I think something a lot of students are used to is things coming easily and flowing smoothly. I can ascertain that until this term, I was one of those students. Comprehension came with inputting time. Executing a plan came with setting a schedule. But this past term, for the first time in my high school career, a lot of things did not flow smoothly. I was having trouble identifying grammar mistakes in French essays, even if I spent hours editing my paper. I was simply blind to those errors until my teacher circled them. I was also having trouble picking up topics in other subjects. While part of this is a result of taking on the hardest course load I've ever had at Andover, I think a great deal of this came from the fact that my head was in multiple spaces at once. At all times, I was thinking about school work, the pandemic, and college applications. And at the midterm, my performance in some classes wasn't in the best shape. Nonetheless, I managed to improve in all my classes in the second half of the term, my comeback. As cliché as it sounds, for the first time, I really experienced the adage "it's not over until it's over." More importantly, senior fall was a precursor of the fact that I'm really going to have to work for things I want in the future and that no, I shouldn't get used to things coming smoothly; accomplishing what I want is going to take hard work, grit, and perseverance.

I am grateful for this past term. Even though it's not socially what anyone anticipated, I've learned and grown in ways I don't think I would've had life been normal. My second to last term at Andover begins on Wednesday. I cannot wait for what's in store.