Spring for BSM juniors means only one thing: college. This time of year is chock-full of college related assignments for juniors to juggle, ranging from portfolio assignments to taking the ACT. Undoubtedly, stress levels are high. Though BSM has many incredibly helpful college counselors, juniors’ college preparations continue to pile up. Mandatory assignments such as attendance at a college fair and school days dedicated solely to the college application process are required to graduate, all the while juniors are trying to search for colleges that could be a good fit for them.

BSM Counselor Amy Larson calls spring of junior year the “exploration phase.” Her goal for juniors during this time is to take a large list of potential colleges and work on narrowing it down based on what students are interested in. In order to help juniors work on finding what they want in a school, a portfolio is assigned for all juniors to complete. The portfolio includes an extracurricular resume, surveys for teachers and counselors, picking teachers to write letters of recommendation, and discussing aspects of college to be considered with parents. Among all of this, it’s no shock that juniors are feeling the pressure right now. In order to get a sense of where BSM juniors are at, the Knight Errant talked to several students about how they’re feeling about college at the moment.

STRESS

One common emotion found among BSM juniors is stress. With everything piling up for BSM juniors, stress is not uncommon for juniors during this time.

Francesca Lichtenberger ‘23: “Personally, I’m pretty stressed because I really don’t know what I’m looking for in school and I feel like everybody keeps asking me about it. So it’s a lot of stress and I don’t really know what’s going on, but I’m trying to figure that out over spring break and I have not toured a singular college.”

Clara Luger ‘23: “[College is] very stressful. Incredibly…like there’s so much to sort through, there’s a lot there’s so many different things like you have to look for.”

Nic Kalb ‘23: “College? Might not make it…I don’t know, junior year’s kind of tough, I will say. I’m stressing.”

Amelia Beutz ‘23: “I’m very stressed out…I’m anxious. Like it’s a lot to think about and it’s… just I don’t know, it’s just a lot. I’m excited to get out of here but like, I’m not excited for the process of applying. I’m in avoidance. I do whatever it takes to avoid the subject.”

Elliot Huether ‘23: “I haven’t done any college visits yet. I feel like I’m behind but I’ll figure it out.”

Greta Hall ‘23: “I started looking at colleges, but it’s stressful thinking about majors and minors. Other than that, I think the college experience sounds pretty cool, it’s just like applications and stuff is a lot of stress.”

Sierre Lumpkin ‘23: “I had my counselor meeting this morning and I want to die.”

INDIFFERENCE

Many BSM juniors are finding themselves indifferent to everything regarding the college application process, and are relying on the fact that there’s still time left until senior year.

Bianca Mojica ‘23: “I’m stressed but I’m kind of trying to ignore it right now and try to like push all that stress to senior year so I can kind of relax for now. But I don’t know, I haven’t really started thinking about it a lot more.”

Estrella Garcia-Lema ‘23: “I get stressed when I start looking at colleges and when I’m not looking at them then I’m not stressed.”

Nelson Yeung ‘23: “Like it’ll be fine. It’s fine. Our school requires us to do a bunch of [work] for [college] so it’ll get done.”

Jack Dietz ‘23: “I don’t know. No emotions.”

Carter House ‘23: “I’m not stressed right now at least, because I haven’t given it enough thought really. So I’m kind of holding out the stress.”

Jack Shull ‘23: “We don’t like to get ahead of ourselves. So we’re just gonna go step by step through the process, you know. Do what we can do right in the now. Can’t control your future.”

Stella Ordahl ‘23: “Well I’m honestly not that stressed right now, I’m kind of starting to look at colleges but I feel like it’s gonna get a lot more stressful pretty soon.”

EXCITEMENT

Amongst the stress and indifference, many juniors are looking forward to their next chapter of life after high school and what it holds for them.

Anna Lervick ‘23: “I’m excited. I feel like I’ve been prepping so I’m good to go.”

Chase Field ‘23: “I’m feeling pretty good. I’m not too stressed. I have a lot to do with ACT but other than that, not too bad.”

Lance Hoover ‘23: “Definitely deadlines are scary, but I feel like I’m one of the weird people that’s like really excited and kind of like there’s no bad college, you know, so like, whatever happens, I won’t get too worried.”

Reggie Hyde ‘23: “I’m excited to tour some schools in Wisconsin.”

Mimi Goodwin ‘23: “I’m vibing.”

Val Coppo ‘23: “Feeling pretty good. I’m feeling pretty good.”

College applications approaching make spring for BSM juniors certainly an overwhelming time. No matter the emotion, juniors are equipped with top-tier resources to make this time for them a little bit easier – thanks to BSM’s helpful counselors, teachers, and mentors. All the hard work, stress, and homework-filled nights will pay off after high school, and no matter how they’re feeling right now, the juniors will be sure to take big steps into the world after BSM.