The two-week break of celebrating the holidays and ringing in the new year comes year-round for students. However, it can be a challenge to get back into the groove of returning to eight-hour days five days a week. As 2024 rolls around, students predict their academic achievements and how they plan to start the new year while others reflect on the time they’ve had.
As a sophomore, the second semester coming to a close comes with the expectation of setting up your future through various programs. This rings in anticipation and stress for most. Sophomore, Ella Jaye believes the school-structured schedules are harder to get back into from holiday break but she highlights her rise in motivation and energy toward school when she returns. Jaye’s academic achievement this year is to pursue her pathway with tenacity. “As the second semester starts my grades and the value I put into school work is more daunting because it determines what I do for the next two years,” she said.
As for juniors, their second semester is filled with jitters, and as they pick colleges to pursue as senior year creeps up on them. The transition from break back to school allows junior, Gabrielle Monplaisir to realize that time is everything and she strives to use every second of hers. Monplaisir used the reflection time from the holiday break to improve her efforts in advancing her future. On top of that, she reflects on her teacher’s demands as she returns to school and how it affects her academic career. “It’s hard to be excited about getting back into the flow of school when teachers aren’t understanding to students’ emotions when coming back,” she said.
It’s no surprise that a senior’s reflection on the past floods them with various emotions, especially as they prepare for adulthood and other educational journeys. For example, senior, Dylan Jacobs wants to put his all into the final assignments of his high school years and end his year off with a minimum of one “B”. Jacobs predicts his second semester will be full of solidifying choices and creating new experiences. Without the holiday break students wouldn’t have the time to refresh from the first semester. It allows them to have a better understanding of what challenges they may face, prompting them to put their best effort into the next semester. “I reflect more on myself and what I should’ve done that semester,” he said. “This holiday break I realized I haven’t been as social due to college preparations so connection this semester is something I want to work on”.
The much-needed holiday break can be tough when it comes to returning to school but can also be necessary. The beginning of the second semester for all grades varies, as the students of North Atlanta enter this new chapter with new goals. Whether or not they keep those goals is a decision they must make on their own because no one says committing to change is easy.
