After hearing from a majority of seniors that he would soon witness the most boring six and a half hours of the school year, junior Chris Sather was surprised when he found himself looking back on an enjoyable and productive Building Your Future day.
Students from this year’s junior class were expecting nothing more than unremarkable when they took their seats in the theater at eight that morning. “I heard from a reliable senior source that it was, and I quote, ‘brutal,’” said Sather.
However, many found themselves pleasantly surprised by the time the final bell rang. “It was a very well-run, informative day, and I actually learned a lot about college admissions. Plus, it was a day off school,” said Sather.
Having aided students for many years, the Building Your Future day has been continually evolving and adjusting. College counselors hope that these changes have not only been improving the curriculum but also making the day more enjoyable and worthwhile for juniors. “Years ago—and I’m not sure how long ago it started, maybe fifteen to twenty years ago—they used to have it as a course, it was maybe one day a week, and then they switched it to the all day program. It’s evolved a lot every year. It gets different and hopefully better,” said Ms. Amy Desmond, college counselor.
Many of the workshops have indeed changed from previous years and received a lot of praise from various students. “I thought the one that was pretty interesting was the one with the career choices. Like what you should major in because it helped you narrow down a career choice that you could use in the future,” said junior John Worley.
Sather also had his favorite workshop from the course of the day. “I liked the Finding Your Fit workshop the best because the Kansas admissions guy clearly wanted to be there and was exciting and engaging,” said Sather.
The only problem which put a slight damper on the day was that of stress. Despite the overall success of the course, it left some students with a growing sense of impending doom. “[The stress] increased because it’s all like reality now. You have to focus on college, and it seemed so distant before but now they’re like you should start thinking about this now,” said junior Sarah Alexander.
A majority of this stress stemmed from the pressure of wanting to make it into only the best of the best colleges. “At the start it was pretty cool because at first we kind of looked at some colleges and you’re like, ‘Oh cool, I can get in there.’ But then there’s other colleges that you’ve heard about too, and you’re like, ‘Oh crap, I’m not going to be able to get in there,” said Gilligan.
Although she understands the root of these feelings from her students, Ms. Desmond assures them that these pressures should not be a main cause for concern. “Because there’s really so many different options, we don’t want anyone to think, ‘Oh my gosh with my grades and test scores, I’m not going anywhere.’ That’s the opposite of what we want,” said Ms. Desmond.
However, whether victim to a new wave of stress or not, juniors could at least delight in the high quality lunch and constructive 80s movie. “I did not know we were going to have pizza for lunch, and that pizza, let me tell you, I had about five pieces. I also enjoyed the movie. It was very funny,” said junior Thomas Gilligan.
