Last-minute letters highlight high school stresses
It’s still rainy and it’s still wintry but many high school
students’ thoughts are turning to next fall, when they hope to
begin their adult lives in college.
This week brought scholarship application deadlines, meaning
seniors were frantically scrambling to gather letters of
recommendation from teachers while they put the finishing touches
on their own
”
personal statement
”
that helps scholarship deciders as they determine who gets how
much money.
Last-minute letters highlight high school stresses
It’s still rainy and it’s still wintry but many high school students’ thoughts are turning to next fall, when they hope to begin their adult lives in college.
This week brought scholarship application deadlines, meaning seniors were frantically scrambling to gather letters of recommendation from teachers while they put the finishing touches on their own “personal statement” that helps scholarship deciders as they determine who gets how much money.
After five years of teaching at San Benito High School, I expect the late-February/early-March rush of requests for letters extolling the virtues of my students as they seek every dollar that they can to help offset college costs.
It can be inconvenient when a student comes up to my desk or sends me an e-mail asking if I’d mind writing a letter for them with very little notice, but I would never say no to their request.
Some of the students I know very well, having had them in my class for two years. Those letters are easy. Others are new to my class and I don’t know much about them beyond the work they do in my yearbook or newspaper classes. Then I look over their activity sheet or a write-up on their personal history, and the words come easy.
I remember being a San Benito High School senior in 1987 and anxiously awaiting the end of my high school days and the start of my college days. It has been so long ago now that I can’t remember if I asked for letters of recommendation from my teachers, but if I did I know I did it at the last minute.
The range of requests for letters highlights the range of students that the school – and any school – has. There are the students who write their request on letterhead and deliver it to me three weeks in advance, with an activity sheet attached for reference.
Then there are the students who e-mail me the afternoon before the letters of recommendation are due, sheepishly ask if I have time to get a letter done for them.
I would hope that no teacher would turn down such a request, as even though it’s inconvenient, it’s a powerful opportunity to help a student further their education – and for that it’s worth the effort.
As the rain begins to let up and spring creeps up, the second semester changes become evident in many high school seniors.
Some completely check out and go into cruise control, counting the days until they are released from the burden of 12 years of structured schooling. Many others start to realize that in 13 weeks they will graduate and have to leave the cocoon that is high school. That cocoon that felt restrictive for so long now feels protective for some, who are excited but scared about what lies ahead for them.
Classroom conversations sometimes mention the regrets of seniors who wish they would have taken school more seriously, as they realize how their previous disinterest now limits their options. There are those students who begin sporting the T-shirts or sweatshirts of their college, proud to announce that they are entering the big time education-wise.
And there are those students who still don’t know what they’ll be doing after June 4. Perhaps they’ll find a job; maybe they’ll join the military; maybe they’ll just “chill” for a while.
The stress of college and scholarship application deadlines will shortly be replaced with the stress over clearing detention hours so seniors can participate in the graduation ceremony or the stress of awaiting word on whether they’ll be able to afford the next step in their education.
For many, that step includes a frantic request for a simple letter.
Adam Breen writes a blog at http://thebreenblog.blogspot.com and teaches newspaper and yearbook classes at San Benito High School. He is a reporter for The Pinnacle and former editor of The Free Lance.
