By Jamari Saint Cyr
As we inch closer to the birth of a new year and approach the demise of an aging one, there’s usually a time where most of us sit and reflect on what our goals were for this past year and what new ones we hope to achieve in the next one.
We asked students and teachers around campus to cast a reflection on themselves during 2017 and consider what they planned to improve on when the New Year comes around.
January 1st, aside from being the start of a new year, has different meaning an
d purpose for different people personally. Mrs. Brown who teaches Debate and AP English Language has her own personal lens when it comes to New Years Day. “My definition of New Year’s is January first of each year, a time when each of us can make a new start in many ways.”
Jeffery Laux, fellow Blue and White journalist and a senior here at Apopka High school, gave us his definition of how he views the idea of New Year’s Day. “My personal definition of New Year’s: Change yourself for the betterment of your ego, mood, and overall life. One year at a time.”
We talked with fellow Blue and White journalist sophomore Isabelle Lounsberry about how she would rate the year 2017 for herself as an overview and from a more centralized viewpoint. “Politically, 0/10 [laughs]. For myself, I think it’s been pretty good this year. I think I’ve grown a lot this year. I think I’ve [been] becoming my own person, like especially this year. Last year was a little bit different, so overall I’d say it was pretty good.”
We asked Jeffery how he would compare his year this year to its predecessor 2016. He answered, “My 2017 in one word would be exciting while 2016 was absolutely trash. Being a senior is the best time of your life as you get to explore your inner self more and more as you grow as a human. 2016 was pretty awful due to my Junior year and how it treated me. Tests upon tests, studying till 4 am, waking up early to make sure I’m caught up on everything.. I miss none of it and I’m so glad 2017 treated me better as a student.”
Photo Credit: NY Daily News
Isabelle also compared herself in the year 2016 to this year as a type of self-evaluation. She responded, “I think this year I had a lot more experience that weren’t necessarily good experiences but were good for learning. Last year I was just kind of going through life and not doing anything about it but this year I feel like I’ve been actively taking part in something.”
A famous tradition most commonly practiced on New Year’s is taking part in casting resolutions that individuals hope to strive towards as they continue life into the new year. Mrs. Brown told us about how she makes resolutions for herself by telling us, “I usually make resolutions to get healthy and fit or to get rid of clutter in my house. I have the same resolutions for this year, and I always hope for the best.” But she also humorously added, “I have not been that good at keeping all of my resolutions!”
Jeffery had preset goals in place for this year and explained to us what they were and the resolutions that he made that reached fulfillment. “My current goal was to get into my top 2 schools for college which is FAU & UF. I got accepted to FAU and now I’m waiting until February for my dream schools decision on my future. Go Gators!”
In addition to this, Jeff also shared with us some academic goals he hopes to achieve as the new year approaches. “I want to get a 1300 on the SAT or a 29 on the ACT,” he stated. “So I’m going to keep studying and busting my butt to better myself at every aspect of the tests!”
Isabelle, while she doesn’t necessarily set up goals in the traditional sense, creates standards that she hopes to reach for herself as a human being. “[I don’t] particularly [set goals], I don’t really do goals in that way. I have standards for myself that I try to uphold. But I don’t really set goals for myself. I am very proud of what I’ve accomplished this year.”
Both Isabelle and Jeff also told us about some things that they hope to improve on by the time the new year comes around that they maybe weren’t so much able to this year. “There are quite a few things,” Isabelle answered. “You know I do taekwondo and next December I’ll be testing for black belt and I’m really happy about it so I’m really hoping to get it done and to get my moves more graceful and [to be] more powerful than they are right now. Just for my own personal character, I’m hoping to be a little less harsh on myself because I have—most people have trouble with that—so I’m hoping to better myself in that way and to just be more empathetic with people. I tend to not see it from their side and just see it with my own and not really understand where they’re coming from so I’m trying to put myself in their situation more.”
Obtained via bubbleinfo.com
Jeffery responded to this question answering how it applies to him saying, “I want to improve on self-control and self-betterment. I put too much stress on myself by doing overdoing everything by a mile. I need to calm my self down and not let simple things get my mood down. Stay Happy is the motto rolling into 2018!”
New Year’s is both a celebration of what many hope to conquer in the days to come as well as serving as a self-reevaluation for the for the old one. And no matter how good or bad someone’s year might’ve been, there’ still hope for the future as we cast a send-off to 2017 and welcome 2018.