There is something inherently frustrating about being in school when the sun starts shining and temperatures climb into the 70s. 

This is compounded, furthermore, when AP tests end and seemingly simultaneously classes empty out.  I got a preview of it the day of the senior class trip, and as a junior it’s killing me.

It’s not really reasonable to be resentful. Everyone goes through the same thing and the Senior Internship Program is a great opportunity I hope to take advantage of next year. 

But there’s something infuriating about being stuck in a classroom for most of the month of June, when many classes (AP’s in particular) are over and students you’ve come to see as peers throughout the course of the year are gone already.

I’m a little tempered by the fact that most of my teachers haven’t told me what’s going to happen after the tests, after internships. I guess it could be fun…maybe. Or educational. Something like that, I think. 

The vagueness is unusual. AP tests are ending, the school population is shrinking, and it’s just not clear what’s going on.  We’ve been adhering to a strict schedule for the whole year, but all the sudden there’s plenty of time and we have no idea what’s being done with it. The sudden lack of structure is cool, but at the same time rather unsettling.

From what I’ve gathered, most AP’s will be doing some form of project for the end of the year, while non-AP classes will soldier on with material even when their numbers dwindle. 

The change is noticeable. My physics and calculus classes will race through the rest of their curriculum with fewer kids, while AP classes are suddenly slowing down, switching from rigid structure to independent projects.  It’s something of a role reversal, actually.

I never noticed the tremendous stress everyone freaked out about with junior year until now, but I think it’s very real during this time.

Kids around you are in college and done, and everything is just getting started for the class of ’13. 

The kid sitting next to you in physics is off working in an elementary school and you’re still trying to decipher harmonics.

Yeah, that’s stressful.