What to Expect from Sophomore Year: An Interview with Retiring Sophomore, BJ Daoust

Sophomore year is a crucial bridge between the formative first year of high school known as freshman year, and the rigorous and demanding year known as junior year. A year for significant exploration, sophomore signifies a time of pivotal and dynamic growth. However, students are often admonished by Mr. Naj about the phenomenon sophomores face called the “sophomore slump.” Defined literally as “wise fools,” sophomores encounter newfound naiveté and wisdom, often letting their guard down, crafting the beginning of the treacherous path of the sophomore slump. In this interview, BJ Daoust, a retiring sophomore, reflects on his sophomore year to help prepare and anticipate rising 10th graders for the eventful year ahead of them.

1. What has been your favorite and least favorite thing about being a sophomore?

I would say my favorite thing about being a sophomore is not being a freshman. I think just the idea of being higher in the tiers of high school is nice. And I think being a sophomore you're kind of in this middle ground where you're still having some of the fun you had freshman year, but you're in a segue going into your future, and I think sophomore year is a unique position where you're not necessarily having to do stuff like college applications yet, but it's on your mind and it's starting that process. You're gaining more leadership opportunities, whether that be through clubs or taking harder classes. But sophomore year is the first year you get to start dictating your future. In terms of what I don't like about being a sophomore, I would say that it's kind of the same thing–the same reason why I like it. It's like three times as much workload as it was for me my freshman year. Part of that is because I've decided to take harder classes and I've given up my study hall because sophomore year you get one less elective. As exciting as it is to start thinking about your future, it also makes everything more difficult.

2. How does sophomore year compare to freshman year?

That's kind of the same thing. If you're trying to achieve a lot, then sophomore year is gonna seem like it's way harder than you would've thought it would've been in your freshman year. If your freshman year seemed easy and you're like, “I won't be part of the sophomore slump,” which I thought I would be, I would say it's definitely a reality in the sense where I kind of see where the slump can come from just in the uptick of workload so quickly. I would say that the biggest difference between being a freshman and a sophomore is just taking that step.

3. What was the biggest surprise about sophomore year?

The workload. The biggest surprise was having so much less time, but I would say also realizing how quickly everything is going to progress. In high school, freshman year seemed really long and this year's been really tedious, but it's also gone by really fast. So I'm starting to notice that everything that you think is really far away is coming way quicker than you would expect.

4. Did you take Honors English? If so, what extra work did it entail, and was it worth it?

Yes. I took honors English my freshman year and I've taken it so far in my sophomore year. I'm not sure how honors English would change, maybe the teacher change would be the most obvious reason why, but at least expect an extra essay this year–a pretty tedious essay. My essay I think was 15 pages, but with that, you don't have to read an extra book. I would say the honors essay is generally more of a deep dive into some content of the class or something related to the class. Taking honors English classes is only worth it if you want to eventually take the corresponding AP. You take any honors or AP class in anything because that's something you're passionate about or that's something you want to learn more about. That's been one of my lessons this year–don't waste extra time on something that you know you aren't interested in. So I would say that the biggest thing is if you're interested in it or you want to eventually take the AP, then do it. Compared to other honors classes, I wouldn't say it's extremely terrible but it is definitely dependent on the teacher.

5. During sophomore year, did you explore your passions and interests outside of the traditional curriculum? If so, what role did that play in your academics and how would you recommend going about that?

For me personally, I've expanded a lot more of my extracurriculars since last year. I think last year in my freshman year, I was only in one or two clubs. This year I have a club every single day. In terms of outside of the normal curriculum, it would be clubs and sports. It’s good to relate your extracurriculars back to your academics, but also to have a balance because ideally, you would do extracurriculars because you align with them. That's kind of been the lesson for me, balancing this season and the second semester. I want to do tennis, volleyball, and the musical. Those things take up so much time that it's affected how much time I have to do my actual curriculum work, especially if I am taking those honors classes. That would be the biggest thing, just making sure you know what you're getting yourself into–knowing what commitment it takes to do those extracurriculars. I'm a person who stacks them up a lot because every extracurricular I do, I actually enjoy. It doesn't feel like I'm doing anything extra, but just knowing that volleyball will be five practices a week plus games, or the musical will be remembering lines and rehearsal. Know what you're getting yourself into before you sign up so that it doesn't seem overwhelming. Don't be afraid to just ask. Ask people in the grade ahead of you who do similar things as you. This is where your experience starts to become a lot more personalized. Just talk to people who align with similar interests or have similar academic hunger. That's the easiest way to decide if it's going to be too much.

6. How did you anticipate the academic expectations to change from freshman to sophomore year? Were your expectations upheld?

I thought sophomore year was gonna be easy because freshman year wasn't that bad for me and I thought I wouldn’t be affected at all by any sophomore slump kind of thing. I thought it'd be a breeze until junior year. Freshman year I thought that senior year was going to be the hardest because it just makes sense. Then I realized junior year was probably gonna be your hardest grade. So, I would say I anticipated the expectation of being more aware of what's going to come in my future. But in terms of just the transition from freshman to sophomore year, I thought it was gonna be easy, and it's not. Just be prepared and limit bad habits. I still have the habit of procrastinating when I don't have the time to procrastinate, which so far this year has been every single day, and it has affected me. So find your learning habits and learn how you get work done. For me, after listening to music I was able to focus right away and stop procrastinating. My expectations weren't fulfilled though. I think that while some things are very similar, you're kind of walking into a room blind because you don't know what each year of high school will be like. It didn't align with what I thought was going to happen, but now I feel like I'm in a position where I can help give feedback so that other people won't feel that same way.

7. How did your relationships with classmates evolve during sophomore year?

I am kind of in a unique position where I've had the same group of friends since seventh grade, so I wouldn't say that socially it’s changed much. With an increased workload and increased extracurriculars, you're not gonna have time to go to the movies with your friends or go to town with your friends unless it's within school hours. I don't hang out with my friends that much outside of school at all unless it's for a school-related project. I just don't have the time anymore. That's also part of why I do extracurriculars because they allow me to continue to hang out with my friends. So team sports, anything community-wise, and the musical builds a great community. You'll get to hang out with your friends and make new friends. I would say that's the biggest difference. 

8. What steps did you take to ensure a smooth transition from freshman to sophomore year, if any? If not, do you wish you had allotted time to it?

I did not take any steps at all to prepare. I wish I had. I wish I had talked to more sophomores who had similar schedules to what I planned to pursue. That would've prepared me a lot better. I should have gotten more insight, which I'm trying to do now for my junior and senior years. Also, I would make sure you have a study hall sophomore year. It definitely would've helped if I had had one this year.

9. Did you fall victim to the sophomore slump? If not, how did you avoid it? If so, what prompted it?

I thought in my freshman year that I would not be affected at all by the sophomore slump. But now, this year, although I didn't necessarily have a slump–it's not like I have terrible grades now–I got hit by it. I have had the worst GPA this year than I have ever had. I would say in trying to get prepared for it, just make sure you allocate your time well and plan things out. Make sure you have a study hall. It helps a lot–it's worth it, and get work done in class when you have the chance.

10. Looking back, what do you wish you had known at the beginning of your sophomore year that would have helped you better prepare?

An unrealistic one: I wish I had kind of known what each class would entail in terms of workload because some classes give me way more work than I thought. If I knew what each class entailed, which also comes with talking to more sophomores, that would have helped. That would be the biggest thing because there are a couple of classes this year that I've struggled with and that have hurt my grades. It's just because I don't have the time that some courses expect you to have. It's a lot of knowing that one honors class has three times as much workload as this honors class and that kind of thing.