Alex Hutchins, Opinions Editor
@aHutchCourant
Looking back on my time as a freshman at the high school, I realize that my perception of what a second semester senior was at that time is very different from what I currently experience as a student in their final semester in the halls of NCHS. Back then, becoming a second semester senior was an accolade nearly on par with the honor that a winner of the purple heart may feel. A remarkable sense of accomplishment that comes after years of trudging through the swamps of homework, or desperately trying to defend my GPA from being flanked by a multitude of different tests. And at the end of it all, a glorious oasis of Netflix binge-watching and over-consumption of everything fried, baked, caffeinated, or bubbling with carbonated goodness.
While I knew that there would obviously still be a degree of academic activity going on, it never occurred to me that maybe teachers wouldn’t suddenly stop giving me homework, tests, or projects or that they would believe in instilling an idea as ridiculous as “college preparation” for the final days of my NCHS career.
Now, a quarter of the way through second semester, this idyllic vision of a second semester senior that my naïve freshman self-crafted within his dreams is merely that—a dream. Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly a plethora of advantages and privileges that come with being a senior that have made this year thus far so memorable. But, the disappearance of this image of myself as a student who could spend 3 or 4 periods off campus without any repercussions, is certainly disappointing to say the least.
But maybe I’m overreacting a bit. Perhaps my happiness in the second semester of my final year in high school need not depend on how much or how little work I have to do in school. While some down time is always nice and certainly well deserved, it’s not like my life as a working individual has come to an end. In fact, the end of senior year is actually only the end of the beginning. In college, the place where most of us have spent the past four years working toward achieving admittance to, if you approach your classes with this same salutary neglect-like attitude, you may find yourself 1000 leagues under a sea of papers, class books, and projects.
I think this is why I’ve found myself working with the same intensity(if not more) than I have throughout high school. There’s something about damming the stream of academic exertion that is so foreign to me. As much as I might want to roll up through the doors of NCHS clad in pajama bottoms, an obnoxiously-colored sweatshirt with the name of a T.V. show scrawled across the chest, and a non-existent backpack, 12+ years of academic hardwiring(or brainwashing) in the New Canaan Public School system simply won’t let me.
In contrast with the anatomy of a second semester senior that my freshman self envisioned, in reality, my experience as a third quarter senior has looked relatively the same as the previous two quarters. With that being said, it’s worth noting the discrepancy between second semester seniors who know where they’re going versus those whose fate still hangs in the balance. As a member of the latter group, my perceptions of what a second semester senior more than likely differs greatly from those who are in college already and possibly even my fourth quarter self. Much like the white, gold, blue, and black dress that has been the heart of internet debate, the anatomy of your second semester as a senior at NCHS is solely defined by how you perceive it.
