Judging from my experience in high school, I look back today as an alumni and tell myself that I was not challenged to my full potential. I came to this conclusion during a competition of Academic Decathlon, where I competed against many schools nationwide. As I took time to interact with students outside of my team, they asked me what we did to prepare ourselves for the big day. When I asked the same question they replied with outrageous studying tactics and various mandatory study sessions on the weekends, on top of various AP and honors courses and extracurricular on the side. Hearing their stories made me ponder around the many students I see lurking through the halls of my school aimlessly with no sense of urgency to go to class on time or ambition to maintain above a 2.5 GPA. .
Speaking in regards to my community, the education system imprinted in this area does not challenge students to their full potential, which lowers our API score and defames the schools in this neighborhood. As I await my graduation this summer from San Fernando High School I know that had this institution enforced academics more I would feel much more confident as a student ready to leave for college. Considering that school has always been a priority of mine, I made it a priority to also seek academic help on campus with programs such as Project Grad and Youth Policy Institute. I, however, see many students who are not aware that there are programs designed to help them with academics and life after high school. Programs like this are ensuring that any students who show commitment towards school will succeed with their assistance. .
Focusing on San Fernando High, a major issue on campus is balancing sports and academics. In my opinion the general foundation is that administrators glorify sports teams more than they do so academics. This in turn takes a toll on the students who do perform academically up to par, which leads to undermining a student's academic performance causing them to feel under-appreciated because they are not part of a sport institution.