The power of doing what is best for

Karlie Saed ‘23 Photostory Editor

Before I even entered high school, I was bombarded with outside opinions on what classes I should take during my four years in order to be academically successful. I let the opinions of other students influence the decision-making of my schedule. What I wasn’t told was the wave of emotions I would experience when trying to balance the workload that I put on myself.

When curating my junior year schedule, there was no doubt in my mind that AP Environmental Science would be on the list. I was only ever told it was the “easiest” AP class that Staples had to offer. But boy was I wrong. I was continuously getting Cs on my unit tests, no matter how many hours I put into studying. My self-esteem was only getting lower and lower each time I checked PowerSchool. I felt suffocated by the fat C that looked right back at me.

Every night as I opened my textbook, I deeply regretted taking a class that I honestly had no interest in. My passions lay in English and social studies, and I beat myself up for pushing those aside. Many tears were shed throughout the course of my junior year

Their Choices

simply because I was unhappy with the choices I had made.

And don’t get me wrong, it is 100% okay to step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. But I should have known from the start that enrolling myself in a college-level course that I couldn’t care less about only meant I would be left unsatisfied.

It is important to stay true to yourself and know what is best for you. I wish I could go back in time and tell my sophomore self that when choosing my classes. School suddenly felt like a chore because I dreaded walking into class every day