Strange things have been happening as the school years progress. Each year the top students in the graduating class continually pile up the workload, even more than the previous one. Taking five AP classes used to be considered an accomplishment, but now that is nothing for the upper half of the graduating class of 2014. The best is no longer good enough, you must excel every expectation. Students are now taking seven and eight AP classes, even up to ten classes as a whole when there are only eight blocks in a school day. What is the drive behind these students?

Senior Michelle Waligora is currently taking ten classes; seven of which are AP. I recently questioned her reasoning for overloading herself to this extent. Her reply; “I expect it of myself.”

“If college courses are offered to me right now, why not take the opportunity to take these classes.  I can get a better grasp on the material and get a greater in depth learning while I have the opportunity. I don’t do this for my parents, I’m not a GPA fanatic, I’m not trying to live up to anyone, I just expect the best from myself. I love learning and I have the opportunity to take highest education possible at this moment in my life, so I’m going for it,” Waligora said.

Waligora strives to get the best grade in every class and so far has accomplished this. However, receiving B’s in a class is still not the end of the world.

  “I don’t look at it as a sacrifice of my grades, if I get a B, then I still know I am doing everything I am capable of and even though I want to achieve perfection, I realize that it’s not possible,” Waligora said.

But is this really all necessary? Sure the AP and higher level learning classes have helped me prepare for college, but there are some things that I could have never learned by reading a textbook. I have learned incredible leadership skills and learned how to push myself beyond my comfort zone, not through locking myself in a room with words, but interacting and working with other people in extracurricular activities. Studying for six hours before a Biology exam taught me great studying skills, but being apart of the leadership in marching band taught me life skills. College preparation does not always prepare you for the life ahead of you.