Getting a B in a class will not kill you

Maggie Hershey Entertainment Editor

Many students, from the start of high school, hear how senior year is the easiest part of your high school experience.

I think the exact opposite has been true for most of this year.

Senior year has been a challenge for me; this challenge, however, has forced me to reflect on my time at Maine South.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, I shouldn’t have cared so much about certain things.

I spent my four years here getting to school early for club meetings and staying late for stage crew and then going home to spend the rest of the night studying and doing homework.

I couldn’t handle getting a grade lower than an A on any assignment, and a C would send me into a fullblown breakdown.

I tried to be a perfect club member, leader, and student while taking a very rigorous course load. Now, looking back on the years, I feel that in many ways, I wasted those years.

While others were going to parties and concerts, I stayed home; and it has been one of my biggest regrets.

This year has made me realize how many friendships I didn’t fully develop because I was too worried about an AP Physics test or an upcoming orchestra concert.

I had to learn a lot about how to build friendships that carried through outside of the classroom during senior year—the point where I thought I would be celebrating making it through all four years with my friends.

I cannot stress enough how much I have loved all the opportunities I have been given, especially in terms of leading clubs, but I wish I was more focused on taking care of myself and enjoying my teenage years.

As someone who has a majority of friends in a lower grade, I see a lot of people who seem to be falling into a similar path of joining every honor society and taking way too many AP classes and then becoming overwhelmed with all of it.

I’ve tried to explain that by the end of high school, all those things won’t really matter, but it’s hard to understand that at such a young age.

A college isn’t looking for someone who does everything—they’re looking for someone who loves what they do.

You don’t need to be perfect to be good enough for any college or person in your life, and if they expect perfection, then they are not truly on your side.

Get good grades and care about your classes and activities; but at the same time, get enough sleep, spend time, with friends, and do the things that you want to do.

My biggest advice for anyone who is still in high school is to slow down. Relax.

Enjoy being at Maine South and don’t expect too much of yourself.

At the end of the day, once you throw that cap in the air, no one is going to care about the fact that you got a C in AP Biology or what your SAT score is.