I’d guess that about 87% of sophomores don’t know the origins of the word “sophomore.”  According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, “sophomore” comes from the Greek term “wise fool.”

Contradictory, yes, but in many ways true.

Now that I’m a sophomore, I have witnessed many changes since freshman year.  I’m not the lowly freshman who doesn’t know where “F” hall is, but unfortunately I still am not the junior or senior getting excited for college planning.

Sophomores know the teachers, the students, the layout of the school, and the tips and tricks needed to get through four years at Campo:  Don’t interrupt that one foreign language teacher’s class and don’t dare bring food into the library, even a granola bar.  If you show any athletic ability in front of the cross country coach, you’re automatically considered for the team.

Unlike the beginning of freshman year, groups of friends have been established, and I now know most of the class of 2015.  Coming from Stanley with a group of seventy-five students, it was little trouble to find a new group of friends despite knowing almost no one from JM or OIS.

The benefits of being in my second year of high school are numerous.  As a sophomore, I only have one year of P.E. left.  I’m able to take the PSATs for the first time ever, which helps prep me for the real deal in junior year.  I have a huge variety of schedule options; for social studies I am able to take Psychology, Contemporary Issues, AP Euro, or nothing at all.  If my birthday wasn’t so late, I’d be driving like many of my classmates.  Something to look forward to when I’m no longer a wise fool.

As a sophomore, we are wise in that we know more than the freshman, however we are foolish because we don’t know as much about life, we aren’t as educated, and we don’t have as much experience as the upperclassmen.

But as wise fools, we’re also working hard every day at school because we understand that college is approaching. Foolishly, we make typical high school student mistakes, whether it’s certain choices at parties or not studying well enough for that chemistry final. However, we rise up to society’s escalating expectations  in our efforts to obtain the best GPA possible.

We have to be ready to start the college process soon, and we are doing our best to prepare by stepping it up in our second year of high school.  We study harder for better grades and work harder with the thought of college in mind.

Unlike freshman year, sophomore year is not full of new experiences in a different school with fresh faces.  It’s not junior year; when colleges are being considered, starting line on the varsity team is a reality, and AP classes are in overload.  I’m not close to senior year yet and I have no idea what college I’m going to.

That’s the importance of sophomore year: this is the time to make some major decisions.  It’s time to make choices that affect my future, such as what sports are most important to me and what subjects to take to determine the type of college to apply to.

Almost all of these options that I have to choose from are things that will go on my college applications.  Colleges will look at what classes I took, what I’m interested in and my extracurriculars, and what teams I was on.  And this is the year I have to plan my future.

The sophomores of 2012-2013, soon to be the graduating class of 2015, are living up to the “wise fools” denotation of the average sophomore.