As the calendar turns to a new year, Middle College High School freshmen are now setting up their ambitious goals to guide their second semester. Reflecting on past experiences from the first half of the school year, these students are preparing to tackle various challenges. With strategies like time management and active participation in class, students are determined to achieve success. Unlike previous years, this group of students are tackling the unique challenges of being a student at MCHS, which includes adapting to balancing their personal life with academic commitments. Here, students always have goals for what they want to accomplish and how they plan to do so.
For instance, freshman Sugey Martinez, aims to improve her academics but more importantly her grade in biology class.
“My New Year’s resolution is to get good grades, mainly in science,” Martinez said.
What are some problems Martinez may face in trying to reach this goal?
“Some challenges are procrastinating with my work, which may cause me to not reach my new year’s goal,” Martinez said.
Martinez had started to plan how she is going to accomplish these goals.
“I will go to tutoring, ask questions during class and if needed, ask a friend for help,” Martinez said.
Middle College students strive for perfect grades,and they have to work hard and be determined by attending tutoring and communicating with their teachers if they need help.
While Martinez focuses on improving her biology grade, freshman Brianna Belindarinos, sets her sights on making her parents proud by excelling in all her classes.
“Well, I want to be the best student I can be. I want to make my mom and dad proud, so that’s really all that motivates me to do that,” Belindarinos said.
To achieve this, she has some specific ideas on how she plans to improve.
“I’ll probably try to keep up with my assignments, not let myself get into late work,” Belindarinos said.
This is how she plans to make her parents proud which also highlights the crucial role teachers play in ensuring that their students reach their goals.
English and AVID teacher Vanessa Villalpando elaborates on how she helps her students reach their goals, and how she supports them when they have an issue.
“The main issue is peer pressure and feeling that they have to get everything done. The feeling that they have to get everything perfect on the first try, or having to be perfect. I feel like at Middle College they feel like they have to be perfect, which is unfortunate, because you have a lot of stress as it is. Taking high school classes and taking college classes while you transition from middle school to high school. That’s enough as it is. But I feel like with Middle College, not only are you dealing with all that academic stress, but you’re dealing with all the stress from your parent’s expectations or family expectations to be a certain way. And I feel like that’s a lot on the kids,” Villalpando said.
The main struggle that freshmen have with reaching their new year’s goals is having the feeling of needing to be perfect. How are teachers able to relate to students?
“I know that stress is immense. I had that when I was a kid, my mom did not even accept a B minus, or anything lower than a B minus, she would hit me. So I understand the stress to be perfect. I understand the stress to have straight A’s. I understand not slacking off, having a meltdown if I got a B minus, or a C, like, I understand all of that, and so I know when I’m being strict. I’m not being strict to the point where, I stress you, I’m being strict to provide a boundary, So I want to give you that space here where you feel, Hey I have someone to talk to. I have someone to get help with,” Villalpando said.
This shows how teachers help and are able to relate to what students feel in regard to having to be perfect. That’s why having a reachable goal is key to achieving their goals.
Overall, setting realistic goals and recognizing the support from teachers are key steps for the success of the freshman.
“Understanding everything is temporary. At the moment, it’s gonna feel hard, but just make goals that are reachable. Not goals that other people made, but goals that you know you can attain,” Villalpando said.
