The senior year of high school marks a period of time in which one must showcase his/her

accomplishments over the last three years. It is a year of putting oneself on display for colleges and
scholarships, all in the hope of impressing those that can give the means of attaining a higher education,
be it money, contacts, or acceptance. To be successful in the trials of senior year, one must put in a
considerable amount of effort not only during that year, but especially so in the previous three years.
One crucial action to take as early as possible is to be active within the school. Most schools
offer a wide variety of extra-curricular activities, such as sports, academic competitions, talent and
service-oriented clubs. These activities are the stepping stones to building the resume that will later be
essential to receiving acceptance letters. The best time to begin participating in extra-curricular
activities is in middle school, a particular useful time for experimenting with the different organizations
to discover ones interests and skills. Joining these clubs and teams also gives participants the chance to
accumulate honors and awards, which will help the participants to experience success and growth. The
feelings of confidence and comfort that come with success will be useful in the upcoming years.
Freshman year of high school is one of the most important years of any individuals high school
career for three reasons: Nearly all of the accomplishments that the individual has achieved to this point
become null as far as the rsum is concerned, a condition I refer to as the Great Reset, the first
important GPA rating is taken, and one may now become a lifer - a club member for all four years of
high school - in any club that individual joins. The Great Reset means that the activities and
organizations in which an individual participated during middle school have little to no importance in the
resume, making the self-knowledge gained from those extra-curricular activities in middle school
extremely important. That self-knowledge and confidence gained from the middle school extracurricular participation will help the participant get a running start in the most crucial year of high
school. GPA ratings are weighted, and the first semester of freshman year can have a huge impact on

the final GPA of a student in his/her senior year. As the semesters go by, it becomes increasingly harder
for a student to raise his/her GPA. Thus, all students should strive to attain the very best grades that
they can in the first two semesters of their high school career. This does not mean that a more relaxed
attitude can be placed on academics after freshman year. It just means that the potential for disaster is
much less likely after these two crucial semesters. In addition to academics, extra-curricular
participation has a new-found importance. One consideration that many college and scholarship
committees look at is the consistency that an individual has. If an individual joins many clubs, though
only for a year at a time, it appears that the individual is not very committed. This is not to say that
variety is bad, or that if an individual doesnt join a club for all four years of high school, then that club
isnt worth joining. Instead, an individual should join a few clubs as a lifer. The individual that displays
commitment to many clubs shows worldliness and several notable traits in character that are extremely
helpful during the senior year, traits such as responsibility, time-management, and enthusiasm.
Another commitment to consider is community service. Nearly every available scholarship
wants to know how the applicant has given back to his/her community, or how he/she has been a local
force for good. Every college to be applied to wants to know about the applicants community service,
for which there is no Great Reset. If an individual has been helping out at the local animal shelter since
three years of age, then the admission/scholarship committee will need to know exactly that.
Community service often gets a bad reputation for being boring, demeaning, or a waste of time, possibly
because it is a punishment for juvenile delinquents. It should be known, however, that community
service is a gift from the people who do it, not a punishment to them. Those people that willingly take
the time, money, and effort to give back to others in their town and county are the type of people that
succeed in life. It is admirable and right to clean-up the parks, donate to local charities (time or money,
both are always welcome), and to be a helping hand to those in need. While one can help as an
individual, it can be easier, more effective, and is often more realistic to do community service with a

group. To be part of a group, join a local service club or a church youth group. In addition to being a part
of something larger, being in a group opens up opportunities to individuals to become leaders, make
connections, and establish a certain amount of notoriety that colleges and scholarship committees may
hear even before senior year.
Sophomore and junior year of high school are fairly straight-forward. Continue to be active
within the school and community while maintaining an adequate performance in academics. During the
sophomore year, one should consider which occupation holds the most appeal to him/her. In this way,
the junior year can be a time of exploration of that field/occupation. Job shadowing is a feasible option,
and junior year is definitely the time to start asking what others might know about ones preferred
future occupation. If an individual was to do all of the things listed in this essay, that person would
experience a higher chance of success when the time comes to fill out applications for scholarships and
college. As a final note, to further ensure a less stressful senior year experience, all awards,
extracurricular activities, honors, and community services should be recorded with the year/s those
events and honors occurred. Contact and communication should persist with the people that the
individual meets during the activities and community-service to allow for a wide pool of people that may
write well-informed and convincing letters of recommendation. Such actions will make the task of filling
out applications much easier, with far less scrambling and frustration.