A roller coaster of a school year
The school year can only be defined as “crazy” for me in and out of school.
One of the best parts of the year was getting more involved at CBA. In my freshman year, I didn’t join any clubs and didn’t really get to know any teachers and Brothers. This year, I joined FBLA and even went on the Villanova Business School trip, learning what happens in the best businesses in the country. It was a great experience to see one of the most popular college majors as I look toward the future.
Another highlight was being successful on the soccer field. I made the varsity team as a sophomore, which is a very tough thing to do at CBA. I earned a starting position by the third game of the season, something that was a big accomplishment for me. Putting nine goals in the back of the net, and adding two assists, propelled me to be the second highest goal scorer and second most points as a sophomore.
We won the Shore Conference – an amazing feeling – but fell short in the state championship against Seton Hall Prep – a disappointing feeling. Being a top-two team in the state is an accomplishment and it felt really good to contribute to such a great season.
Finally, my mentality in school has changed a lot. In my freshman year, I didn’t take school seriously and didn’t create any good habits because of how easy school came to me. I wasn’t putting much thought into tests and homework, and I felt myself just going through the motions of the school year.
My sophomore year was a lot more of a challenge than last year, especially since there were policies and rules that changed from my COVID-affected freshman year. The teachers were stricter than they were last year and sophomore year is harder in general. I learned new study habits for test taking and became much more successful with my grades.
I was not perfect, however, and one of the negative parts of this year was my time management. I struggled with keeping track of my school work sometimes with the amount of work I would get. I wouldn’t be able to get done with homework some nights because I would have soccer practice or games. It was a lot to keep up with, but most importantly, it was hard to hang out with friends and family because of the amount of time committed to school and soccer.
Eventually, I started to get the hang of it, but it took me a couple months to figure everything out. Even then, the month of March was actually when it felt like it was the worst. I would have practice for soccer four days a week and a game on the weekends. On top of that, I would have what felt like nonstop homework and it was a hard task to keep up with. Some days I would be going to bed at 1:30 a.m. after finishing up homework.
One of the toughest parts of this year was losing one of my best friends to suicide. Michael was my teammate on a soccer team I played on for seven years. We grew closer and closer with each other as we became the main players on the team. He would be doing the saving in the goal and I would be the one scoring the goals. On December 4, I woke up in the morning to the worst news in the world that he was dead. It completely ripped me apart. During this time, it was difficult for me to get up, focus, and do well in school. It was definitely a hard time for me and my team to get through such a terrible tragedy.
As time went on, I began to focus on myself and realized he is in a better place now. As I started to understand that, I began to celebrate, remember, and talk about him more.
The year had its really bad and really good moments. Perhaps most importantly, these past nine months have had a big impact on my plan for the future, figuring out what I want to do and who I want to be.
