Darshan Dhaduk| Week 12: Power of School

Darshan Dhaduk

Mrs. Smith

English 11 AP

26 February 2025


Image credits: https://images.app.goo.gl/UYEyFnbrDASgKmcs5

    During elementary school I thought that high school is easy and just a waste of time. Now fast forward a few years and I step foot on my first class in ninth grade. Walking into my first class, I still thought it might be a breeze and not too hard, but I was so wrong. Finals roll around and I soon realized how hard high school really is going to be.
    Now high school is meant to be hard, and I really wished I knew that before. In the summer I signed up for so many basketball classes and other extra curriculars because I thought that I would not need to spend a lot of time in school, but it was the complete opposite. Third week of ninth grade and boom, five assignments due the next day and I didn’t start on any of them. Soon I started dropping the unnecessary extra curriculars that I had, just so I could focus and give more time to school.
    Fast forward to 11th grade and now I need to decide and lock in an answer for what I want to be when I grow up. College applications and writing essays is not that far away and these are essentials for getting into a good college. Hearing stories about others getting into ivy league schools just makes me regret the choices I made in 9th grade.
    People tell me to forget about the past, but what if the past is the reason why my future is all messed up? I just wish I could explain to kids in middle school about how important high school really is. It’s like the base of a giant skyscraper. If the base is not built right, then the entire skyscraper will fall down. If I had one wish, it would be to tell my ninth grade self to take school more seriously, because it is the base to me getting a successful future. 






Comments

  1. EmilyMarch 4, 2025 at 11:39 PM

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  2. EmilyMarch 5, 2025 at 12:03 AM

    Hi Darshan,
    I can relate to a lot of what you said in your blog. 9th and 10th grade were relatively easy as I was pretty anti-social and diligently focused on my studies, and also because of the fact that I didn’t have a lot of friends at the time. However, because of how easy it was for me in those two previous school years, I totally underestimated junior year, which resulted in a shockingly large and continuously increasing amount of schoolwork. While I have managed to somewhat keep up with everything that was thrown my way, I do relate to your wish of being prepared in advance since if I had done that, then maybe I wouldn’t have needed to pull that much all-nighters.

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  3. Raghav SharmaMarch 5, 2025 at 8:19 PM

    Hi Darshan,
    Loved reading your blog this week. For me, it was actually complete different of your perspective on high school during elementary school. I always found high school super "cool" and where dreams are made into reality. I was so excited to finally become the older kid and truly have those "6" periods with 6 different teachers. I remember, a key memory for me, was when I met you and got to really know you was in our 8th grade Spanish class, and we both were discussing how difficult high school was going to be :). Just like you, finals really gave me a clear reality check, on showing how difficult these 4 years will be, but with hard work, just like Lebron says, anything is possible. From that moment on, I prioritized schooling, left basketball for good, which was sad but that's ok, and noticed a much bigger growth in my academics. I feel regret is a horrible thing to feel, knowing that one mistake can practically change a life changing decision, but we can't change the past, look at it like this, one thing can also make up for it. Overall Darshan, I loved reading your blog, and can't wait for the next one. See ya on the basketball court.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kevin QuangMarch 7, 2025 at 12:26 PM

    Hey Darshan, I relate to this blog a lot, especially with your experience during freshman year. For me, in ninth grade I didn’t take school very seriously since the workload was relatively light, and instead I dedicated a lot of my time to extracurriculars. Because of this I’ve developed a somewhat dysfunctional work ethic, and now, at the halfway point of this year, I’m starting to regret it as well. Seeing everyone around me finding success or stressing out about things I don’t have or don’t do makes me wonder if I’m being left behind in the race to college. If I could go back and tell my younger self one thing, it would be to find a balance between school and life, and not to underestimate the huge difficulty spike from sophomore to junior year. But in all honesty, there’s nothing we can really do about the past, so instead, we should just prepare for the future.

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