As a sophomore pushing through the past few weeks has been difficult task. I spend more time looking forward to the weekend than I do looking at my homework. Work seems to pile up, and no matter the amount I complete, nothing puts a dent in it. I decided that I can’t be the only one struggling to find motivation, so I asked three sophomores how their second semesters are going and how they’re managing to keep up with their classes.
I first talked to Will Ayers. I asked Ayers about whether he has motivation this semester; he said he has plenty. All he does is think of the pay off his work will have in the end. He would like to go to college right out of high school, hopefully a college he prefers to go to.
I had never thought of my problem this way, and I realized that maybe starting to really look at the future will help me as opposed to just looking forward to 4:05 every Friday, but looking years down the road and questioning how my current decisions will potentially affect my future.
Megan Phaup had something different to say. She agreed that making it through second semester has seemed impossible. She said it is tough because, “You can see the end of the year and summer, and that looks far better than school, especially because you’ve done it for so long now the routine has become a bit draining.” In order to push through the last two months Phaup downloaded an app called “myHAC,” which allows her to look at her grades simply by opening it. She sees what she needs to work on, which allows her to come up with a plan and eventually get assignments done. She also says that she wouldn’t want to let her dad down, and that motivates her in the end to get everything done.
As it turned out I was not the only one struggling to find motivation to finish out this school year. Meredith Farmer agreed with Phaup, saying she has a lot to look forward to this summer, and the more time passes, the more she loses her motivation to complete her school work. To compensate for her fading motivation she makes a checklist, allowing herself to see and check things off her list in order to keep track of her workload.
After talking to Ayers, Phaup and Farmer, I learned that there are ways you can push through the rough few months that are the second semester of your sophomore year. Think about making a list of your work that you’ll see everyday, write down your reasons for keeping motivated and remind yourself of why you need to finish your next assignment. Finding ways to motivate yourself is the key to staying on top of your work.