Students return to Agoura High with excitement and trepidation





Agoura High School students return to school with a mix of emotions—sad that their summer has ended, but excited at the prospect of an eventful new year.

“As a junior, I look forward to doing my own thing,” said Aaron Fisher, a member of the politics and debate club Junior State of America. “The wide variety of classes offered to me as an upperclassman allowed me to pick exactly what I was looking for, both educational and fun.”

September marks the beginning of the home stretch for seniors, the final year of a long, tiring, yet hopefully successful high school career.

“I’m looking forward to being done with SATs and all other college responsibilities,” said Arun Reghunathan, a witness for the school’s Mock Trial Team.

By second semester, seniors are prone to kick back and place their studies on a lower priority than the first semester, when they were consumed with getting into college, but counselors warn the students not to let the so-called “senioritis” get out of hand. They should be determined to finish their high school careers on a high note.

“The last 13 years of my life have been in school, so graduation will be a special event,” Reghunathan said.

For freshmen, now is just the beginning. They must acclimate themselves to the large campus, unfamiliar block schedule and nearly two-hour classes, none of which they faced in middle school.

Junior year is considered by many students to be the most important year in high school. This is usually the time when collegebound students take the SAT or ACT for the first time. Other juniors will take their first honors or AP classes.

“People think junior year is stressful,” said Fisher. “But it’s only like that if you want it to be.”

The school year isn’t only about academic rigors: pulling allnighters, writing a five-paragraph essay on any given night, or having weekly SAT classes. What a student does outside the classroom can be equally important. They will become involved in a variety of activities, including sports, music, theater and other clubs.

Many students say the most enjoyable year is the sophomore year. Students are no longer the newcomers on campus, and they finally have a good feel for how the class schedule and other activities come together.

Most students—even those who don’t admit it—are probably glad to be back in the classroom. Although students often convey dissatisfaction about school, some of their best memories will be of the times they spent joking in the back of the class, attending football games and musicals, and, when all is said and done, being allowed to act like the goodhearted kids that they really are.

Jonathan Kuperberg, a senior at Agoura High School, is also the editor-in-chief of the Agoura High School Charger newspaper.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *