Timely Transitions Among PHS Students

By Margaret Mattes, Princeton High School
The days are becoming long enough to eat dinner outside, the mornings are warm enough to leave the winter jacket at home, and the daffodils are springing up right and left- it can only mean one thing, spring has sprung. After seven solid weeks of school since the last long weekend, the students, faculty, and administration of Princeton High School have finally made it to their weeklong spring vacation, signaling the final stretch of school before summer.
But, this season marks not only the transition from snow to sun, school to summer, it also signals a change in the mindsets of those at PHS. Last week’s article from the High School, “Freshmen Strive for Adaptation and Acceptance,” touched upon the transformation among the freshmen class at this time of year, as they become more comfortable and more immersed in the PHS community. But, such adjustments are not unique to freshmen alone. After spending seven months in their current roles, students of all ages have finally settled into their positions in the school, able to learn from the past and look forwards towards the future months and years.
After becoming fully comfortable at the high school, sophomores are just learning of the pressures of high school. “As a freshmen, nothing was as serious as it has become,” voices sophomore Maddie Cahill, “and now, with these harder classes coming up, balancing my time and really making sure that I get good grades has been difficult for me.” Watching other, older students prepare for the future during the springtime also affects the way these students relate to their lives at PHS, as they feel their time is fast-approaching. “My mindset has been more focused towards my goals,” continued Cahill, knowing that “everything counts” in years to come. And, with the impending pressure of junior year, sophomores seem eager to take advantage of their last, somewhat carefree days as underclassmen.
This season, the best policy may be to avoid the entire junior class because they are suffering through the hardest part of high school. Gone are the days when life after PHS was just a dream- the college admissions process, with all of its’ standardized tests, essays and guidance meetings, is upon them and it is simply overwhelming. Many juniors are spending their spring breaks on the road with parents, as they travel to college campuses across the country, and the High School’s College Fair, during which students can chat with school representatives, is April 26th and 27th. At least once every few days, a junior attacks me with college questions, demanding to know the final list of schools to which I applied, how many times I took the SATs, or when I began writing essays. Junior Frank Rein admits that the “ main challenge for [him] has been not slacking off” while enrolled in a demanding schedule with several Advanced Placement classes in order to prepare for college. According to Rein, this has become especially difficult during the spring months because of contagious nature of “senioritis,” a plague of laziness previously believed to effect only second-semester seniors.
And for those seniors, the end is finally in sight. Before these past few weeks, the future, especially college, still seemed like this shining trophy on top of a mountain peak, to which I, and all the rest of the senior class, had been climbing towards since as long as we could remember. But now, after the decisions are out, with students visiting their potential homes for the next four years and making final decisions, it has finally struck home. Every so often, a classmate will remind me that this is the last quarter I will ever suffer through gym class or the last time I will have to read another chapter of my hateful math textbook or the last season I will have to spend eight or more hours a day in a building in which the heat occasionally goes on in May, and I become overcome with a desire to relive my high school years. I used to attempt to push through these laborious tasks as quickly as I could, but now, knowing that I will never have to put up with them again, time seems to go all too fast. Soon though, I and all of my fellow seniors, will have to accept that, after eighteen years of calling Princeton our home, and four years of recognizing Princeton High School as our alma mater, another chapter in our lives is about to open.
But this status quo will only last these few spring months. Pretty soon, the last bell of the school year will ring and all the students will be forced to jump into completely new roles, whether at the High School or beyond.