’23 and Going Through a Mid-Life Crisis

Class of 2023 consists of students who sort of lost their way in life. We were the students who lost half of their freshman year to Covid. We were the students who experienced all the schedule changes during their sophomore year. These unfortunate events could have messed up our sense of direction, but we still manage to find our place in the community.

Junior Lindsey Troftgruben is extremely passionate about all the activities she is involved in. During school hours, she is involved in Speech and Debate, and she also has an officer position in National Honors Society. Even though these school activities take up a lot of time, Troftgruben is still involved with other activities outside of school.

“Outside of school, I play two sports: softball and crew. I have been playing soft ball since I was eight, and for crew I started a year ago. Other than the two sports I play, I have two jobs. I am a model, and I volunteer in a lab pharmacokinetics laboratory,” Troftgruben said. Through all the craziness in school, Troftgruben still finds time to destress with activities that she enjoys.

“Whenever I have free time, I like to work out. I like to watch Marvel movies. I also like to play video games. My dad and I also do drag racing, which I really enjoy,” Troftgruben said.

Like Troftgruben, junior Brady Yamanaka has also dedicated his share of time to school. Yamanaka is a part of National Honors Society, Science National Honors Society, Vaccine Champions, Blue Sky Scholars Club – just to name a few.

“I decided to be a part of the extracurricular activities because it is a way for me to give back to my community, build relationships with my peers, and it is a way for me to dive deeper into a subject area that I am interested in. It also does not hurt to help my academic pursuit into college,” Yamanaka said. “I want to study Japanese and I am not sure what other major I want to study but I think that it will probably be international studies or business.”

During his free time, Yamanaka supports the school’s basketball and volleyball teams. He, like most teens, destress by hanging out with friends. He also likes to play all types of sports for fun.

Just like the rest of the juniors, Estub Worku is dedicated to all the extracurricular activities. A few clubs that Worku is a part of include Rho Kappa, Team R.E.D, Habesha, and National Honors Society. 

“I try to be involved as much as possible in and outside of the classroom because I feel like if I do not make relationships with my peers or teachers, I am not going to do the best I can. The relationships that I form with others provides me with support as I grow,” Worku said.

With all the extracurriculars that Worku is a part of, she hardly has time to fully rest. When she does have time to rest, she enjoys reading and watching YouTube.

“Lately, I have gotten back to reading — which is great. I have not done that in a while, so it is nice to not have anything on my mind and just read. I like to read romance and thriller. I am currently reading Verity by Colleen Hoover.  I also like to nap during my free time because your girl needs to rest,” Worku said with a smile. 

Not only is Class of 2023 involved in all the extracurricular activities, they are also trying their best to succeed academically. They are dedicating their time and energy to become the better version of themselves, so that they can create a brighter future for themselves.

“Class of 2023 is determined and resilient. Whatever we set our minds to, I know we can accomplish it. We dedicate so much of our time and energy to school just to make sure that there will be a better future waiting for us. Our class is truly a hard-working class,” Worku said.

This class has faced many challenges throughout the course of two years. Even though these students could have easily given up, they persevered and were determined to create a better school environment for themselves and each other. The similarities that these students found within each other were the stress and anxieties of being a junior.

“Because junior year is so stressful, we all like to help each other out as much as possible. In classes, we will have group chats, share notes, and keep people updated if they miss class. And it is really the only way we can succeed,” Troftgruben said. Having similar struggles and desires has allowed relationships to be formed within the class.

“We are really close because we all just want to help one another be successful and reach our goals. Our class is a very close-knit community,” Worku said. 

Having these little ways of helping each other out has shown how tight of a class bond these students share. Even though juniors share some similarities with each other, they are still their own individual selves.

“Class of 2023 is very diverse. From what I see in my classes to the hallways, there is a wide variety of students. I see our class as hard-working and deeply devoted to the school spirit from sports to clubs and even academics. I think our class has come a long way and matured a lot as we faced junior year together,” Yamanaka said.

Not only have juniors matured through the year, but they are preparing themselves for life after high school. Because there are so many different personalities incorporated into Class of 2023, there will be many career paths that these students will choose. 

“We definitely have a wide variety of people who are going to do very different things in life and just go on their different ways. But wherever we end up, I know we will achieve many things. I have a lot of hope for our class,” Troftgruben said. Because there are many different personalities in Class of 2023, competition between the juniors is inevitable. They all want to be the best that they can be and accomplish many great things. 

“Class of 2023 is definitely a competitive class. We all strive to improve ourselves so that we can ensure our success in the future. Our class consists of really really smart people.  I think having a competitive class is kind of beneficial because it makes people motivated to do better. They want to work harder so they can be at the same level as someone else who is really successful in our class,” Worku said. Having the drive to succeed is not the only thing allowing ‘23 to achieve great things. There are many tools and opportunities that high school has provided for them. 

“I believe our class has all the tools we need to succeed. We just need to take advantage of all the opportunities we are given,” Troftgruben said. And juniors do take advantage of all the opportunities they receive from the school. They are not afraid to try new things and fail.  

On very rare occasions, the competitive atmosphere that Class of 2023 has can be intense. Nevertheless, juniors are still proud to be a part of this dedicated class. 

“Whenever someone mentions Class of ‘23, I feel proud to be a part of it. I would not have it any other way. These are the people who can relate to the struggles that I experienced because we all faced those struggles,” Yamanaka said.

Being able to understand each other has allowed juniors to find their place in the community. It has also provided them opportunities to get to know each other and help each other become the best version of themselves.

“Class of ‘23 is the best! We are going to be the most successful in life, and that is on period!” Worku said.