The New Year is here and we all know the tradition of coming up with resolutions to fulfill. The Blue and White had a chance to interview some students and ask for their resolutions and what they hope to accomplish this school year. Why bother asking for personal resolutions when we all know it involves working out or eating healthier, right? We wanted to focus on school goals.

We first interviewed Charlie Williams, a Sophomore at Apopka, whose goal is to get good grades and make his parents proud. In order to reach his goal, he would need to work on getting his work done on time and not procrastinating. We all know about procrastination, and it’s so easy to do anything else than our actual work. Charlie explains, “specifically talking about my grades, I would like to get straight A’s. I came close last semester, and it would really make me happy to get all A’s.” This is important to him because, “I want to be able to be truly proud of myself and want to give my parents a bigger reason to be proud of me as well.” To truly reach and accomplish his goal, Charlie feels he “needs to focus on my procrastination and time management. That’s the big thing that is dragging my grades down.” When you get good grades, its easier to get into college, but what about choosing a career?

For Senior, Madison Garcia, her goal for this year is figuring out what she’s doing with her life, such as her career and lifestyle choices. “I’d like to work on figuring out what I like to do, and that way I can work towards finding out what I want to do for the rest of my life.” That is definitely an important thing to figure out, because you would rather work doing something you love than something you don’t. Specifically, she would like to know what career choice she wants to make and how she’s going to get there. To know that she has achieved her goal, she will have gotten accepted into her dream college, knowing what she is about to pursue. This is important to her because, “It will allow me to shape my future, knowing how my lifestyle will play out, and I like to know what’s ahead.” Things she needs to improve on before she can accomplish her goal would be narrowing down things she likes, because she “likes too many things and can’t really settle down on the idea of doing just one…I need to find that one thing that I know I will be happy in for the rest of my life.” In life, it’s important to be happy and really get to know and understand oneself.

Mackenzie Miller, a Senior at Apopka, wants to do just that and re-evaluate her everyday attitude and how she looks at herself, that way it can positively affect how she acts in school. “I’d like to work on how I act towards people, especially teachers, because I give them a lot of my attitude and it doesn’t help me get anywhere.” That makes complete sense, teachers are your way of getting through school. Specifically, she wants to “change my tone with people. I don’t want to change myself completely, but I know something needs to change.” When she notices that change in herself and sees improvement, she will know that she has accomplished her goal. This is important to her because, “I want to be able to say I changed for the better, not the worse, leaving 2022 me behind and becoming a better me in 2023.” That’s definitely something that everyone should have in mind. Before she can get to that, she needs to figure out, my “triggers” for my attitude, that way I can avoid it coming out when something that triggers it happens.” A new attitude for 2023 sounds like a good plan.

These are just some goals for Apopka High School students. We’re positive there are more that are just as important and good for our society and environment. What’s your goals for this New Year?