The Maybeck Life of a Junior in 2024
by Lilah Fernandez
Lilah Fernandez ‘25 representing the Maybeck Asian Student Union at the Spring Club Fair
It’s widely acknowledged that during one’s junior year of high school, the intensity of school begins to ramp up. It’s an important year! You are officially an upperclassman. Now you have to start thinking about college at least a little. Your senior friends are graduating (which I get sad about every time I think of it). Many of you would have had your driver’s license by now. Those who came to Maybeck their freshman year will have now spent three years forming relationships with peers and teachers. I'm sure that though years may have passed, many things stay true to the junior-year-at-Maybeck experience.
I have had my first college counseling meeting with our wonderful college counselor, Giulietta, in which we went over some of the basics—beginning the path to creating a list of colleges. I’m sure we’re all a bit nervous, but we continue to support each other and gain support from the staff around us. I feel as if I couldn’t be in better hands.
The first day of school always feels like an immediate start to the build-up for Special Programs. We are currently about 2 months away from this year's! I’ve loved every single one I’ve done so far, but this year is the one I’m most excited about. This year my Special Program is all about learning how to cook, bake, and make a meal! We will be visiting food festivals and ranches as well as attending cooking classes and more! Some other Special Programs are going to Greece, Cuba, the Pacific Northwest, and the desert! Other groups are learning about birth and death or exploring the vast umbrella term of “STEM” or planning little excursions all over the Bay Area! The staff have been hard at work at making every single Special Program an extraordinary experience.
With junior year comes the new schedule of semester-long Social Studies Electives. All juniors get to choose out of four class options which social studies class they want to take. Last semester I took Asian American Identity through Pop Culture and it was one of my favorite classes I’ve ever taken here. There’s something so exciting about being able to choose and not have a set class you must take (especially when it’s a subject I don’t generally favor).
In my junior year, I’ve been able to step into some leadership roles. The baton of affinity group leader for the Asian Student Union (or, ASU) was handed off to me. And the number of people that attend meetings has more than doubled from last year! Additionally, this year was my first year as a Peer Mentor, a role both juniors and seniors fill. As a Peer Mentor I lead my Contact Group, aid with Orientation, act as a support option for my peers, and work with the other Peer Mentors and our facilitators on improving—as well as providing for—our school and community. I get to help build the Maybeck I want to go to. I love our group and the progress we strive to make. With the new applications starting in April, I’m beginning to urge everyone who can, to apply.
Maybeck has been one of the best experiences for me, and it being the daunting years of high school, makes it that much more meaningful. It is a space where I have found my passions, my people, and am free to bring my full self. We have our setbacks, I have my bouts of drama, being 16 is hard, but the support I find at Maybeck never wavers. And what more can I ask than that?