Whirlwind of work
Advertiser Staff and News Services
| |||
 |
|
||
Barely two months into the school year, McKinley High School student Kendra Brazile is quickly learning how to juggle all her senior-year activities. Among the "balls" keeping her hands full: tutoring after school as a National Honor Society member, volunteering at a hospital, taking a collegelevel psychology class at Honolulu Community College, and applying for colleges and scholarships.
All that is in addition to keeping up with daily assignments and finding time to hang out with friends at football games and slumber parties.
"I'm getting so stressed just thinking about it," said Brazile, 17.
From fall to spring, high school seniors and their parents have a lot on their plates, making the off-to-college rite of passage a frenzied, emotional time of tests, school selection, parties and eventually saying goodbye.
Guidance counselor Tim Allyn sees it every spring — that "deer in headlights" look.
It's the expression worn by high school seniors as they sprint toward exciting but frightening futures, while at the same time clinging to friends and trying to dodge painful obstacles that might prolong their stay in high school.
Their to-do list runs several volumes long: high school classes, college scholarship essays, senior bonfires, end-of-the-year banquets, buying graduation gifts, graduation practice, family time, friend time, finals, ordering senior transcripts, finding summer jobs — the tasks go on and on.
"A lot of students take on more than they can handle," Brazile said. "I think my load this year is just enough for me where I can stay involved, but not go too crazy."
Allyn said the most important thing seniors (and their parents) need to remember is that after all the stress, after all the angst, things invariably work out well with the majority of students eventually crossing the stage, receiving their diplomas and breathing a huge sigh of relief.
"My advice is to take care of the details," he said. "The big stuff will take care of itself. I think one of the hardest things for parents is to let the students be in charge of their lives."
YOU WILL SURVIVE
To help the class of 2007, here are tips from members of the class of 2006 — and their parents.
Lenaiya Vetter, from Des Moines, Iowa, found out late in her senior year she was short one English class and ended up with a fuller schedule than she would have preferred her second semester.
"I don't think I've ever been so busy before than I was that last month of trying to get everything done," she said. "I don't even remember specific things, I just remember it was all a big blur of stuff to do."
Her life was so hectic, Vetter said, that her usual technique for remembering things — writing them on her left hand — fell short.
"Three weeks before school was over, my whole arm was full of stuff I needed to do," she said. "Then I started transferring them over to my right arm."
Vetter said in college she has discovered Post-it notes.
As a junior last year, Brazile recalls writing important dates and information on scrap paper — a system that failed miserably. Now she stays on track with an organizer.
"My planner from school really helps me. I write everything in it, and it helps me stay focused," she said.
Parent Sue Pogge of Des Moines said the last month of her daughter Callie's senior year, she was planning not only a high school but a college graduation party. And her husband, Ron, was recovering from cancer, diagnosed just months before.
"I remember that every single minute was full; you needed 30 hours in a day," she said. "We put a smile on our faces but inside, we were in turmoil."
Pogge said Callie was a typical high school senior the last month before graduation in that she was never home.
"It's not a year you are going to see them," she said. "They are always backing out of the driveway."
It's almost like the kids are helping prepare their parents for when they leave for college, Pogge said.
"They're kind of making a silent statement, 'Get ready, I'm not going to be here in the fall, and it's starting now.' "
Pogge said it's important for parents to make the most of the chances they get to spend time with their seniors instead of using their fleeting minutes together to do things like nail down menus for the graduation party.
"I would say step back from all the details that are probably going to turn out well anyway and just treasure every moment your son or daughter is standing in the kitchen wanting to talk for a few moments or wanting to tell you about the place they've just visited or the party they've just been to," she advised. "We get so caught up in the menu or the flowers in the backyard, but if they're going to give you a few moments, put down what you're doing and just listen because the silence of the house in the fall is extremely shocking."
In Honolulu, the way McKinley senior Matthew Chong, 17, plans to stay on top of his three part-time jobs, school and the all-important college application process is to get things done as soon as he possibly can.
"Do not procrastinate," Chong advises fellow seniors. "If you can finish your work early, finish your work early."
Tyler Schipper of Des Moines advises: "I probably would have narrowed down the amount of schools I applied to. I applied to nine or 10 schools but by the time I started receiving applications back, I had already cut it down to four or five. Schools that take common applications are a lot more pleasant to apply to. You just fill out the application once and send it to as many schools as you want."
Advertiser staff writer Zenaida Serrano contributed Honolulu information to this report. Mary Challender of the Des Moines Register also contributed.