Towards the end of sophomore year, students are given the choice of what education they want to pursue for their junior and senior years. Whether it is GlenOak’s Career Tech or IB programs, or any other combination of higher-level courses.
Anxiety surrounding workload, course fit or extracurricular activities are all common among students approaching the second half of their high school career.
“The anxiety that I face about junior and senior year is how much these years can impact my college education and where I can get accepted into,” sophomore Peyton Thole said.
The choices students make for their junior and senior coursework affect their opportunities in college and beyond; this is where the anxiety stems from.
“Next year I’ve decided to do full IB… It will be a lot of work. I will have to figure out how to manage my time wisely and try to find a balance between school and my social life,” Thole said.
Students interested in taking higher-level courses are even more anxious because of the wide selection of difficult course programs they are provided with. During their freshman year, however, students are provided with very little variety when it comes to high-level versus standard-level courses.
However, students who have taken the IB program feel teachers provide resources and flexibility that help them manage the heavy workload.
“Trust your teachers, they have all had success and they know exactly what you need to do to succeed,” senior Soren Lewis said. Lewis took full IB both his junior and senior year.
Time management and teacher communication provide a solid foundation to succeed throughout the rest of your high school career, and this is especially prevalent in IB classes, where teacher-student communication is imperative to success.
“I think I really walk them through it though… I make sure that they know that they should be practicing it every day, to remedy any of that anxiety,” teacher Jennifer Caldwell said.
Caldwell is referring to the Junior IB project, individual oral, where she walks students through the steps in order to prepare for such a large project.
Lewis felt students in the IB program have support within the program, and proper communication with their teachers, which is integral to succeeding in any high-level class.
“Trust the process in every class, manage your time effectively, learn with an open mind, and don’t be afraid to communicate, such as speaking with your peers,” Lewis said.
Students are anxious about the workload and functioning of the class, however senior high-level class students can assure students that with proper communication, time management, and trust within yourself and the teachers, students can succeed in high-level classes.
Career Tech provides a unique opportunity for students to take advanced classes with active hands-on participation rather than high-level abstract concepts. The fact that Career Tech courses take up so much time during the day and some are taught at the college level is intimidating, however Career Tech alumni assure students not to worry about class difficulty.
“Taking a Career Tech is something that you can have fun with, instead of worrying about spending all your time on the academics part of it,” senior Logan Salsman said
Career Techs provide a student who doesn’t want intense rigorous work loads the ability to learn meaningful, career-focused skills that they can use the rest of their life.
Students should be encouraged to do their best and not to be so anxious when it comes to difficulty within classes and student success. Students shouldn’t be discouraged when it comes to high-level classes, with many of the options provided at GlenOak, a student may thrive and grow, where they thought they would crumble under the pressure.
