As September rolls around, every student feels the annual burden of grades and the pressure to succeed in all of their new classes. However, no class feels the strenuous load upon their shoulders more than the juniors. The burden has been with us for practically our entire lives, and we have carried it without strain through the easy flow of elementary and middle school. But, as we are told time and time again, high school is when it really matters. Junior year is the final stretch-the light at the end of the tunnel. Nonetheless, it is the most important.

Looking back, there have been times when every single one of us has tripped, fallen, and just wanted to turn out the desk lamp, welcome sleep and our warm beds, and admit defeat when we are handed that test in class the next day. It is important to remember to never stop trying, and to put in the extra hours and sacrificing time to give 100% of our effort. But it is also just as important to remember to keep things in perspective, and that our grades or our exam scores, and eventually where we go to college, do not define where we ill go in life.

I recently read the story of a man named Gene Rosellini. Rosellini sustained a perfect 4.0 GPA through high school and at the colleges he attended (University of Washington, and later at Seattle University). Described as friends by brilliant, Rosellini was constantly reading, and studied anthropology, philosophy, and linguistics. However, he never accepted a degree- he simply did not see the reason for it. So in 1977, Rosellini left his ordinary, mundane life, and began an anthropological experiment in complete solitude out in the wild of Alaska. He devoted his life to see whether or not humans could possibly live without modern technology, and began a personal renaissance by only permitting himself the most primitive tools and resources.

Every student should be able to take away something from Rosellini and his ideals. This was a man who could have gone far in the world of business and industry- he could have become wealthy and lived a luxurious, materialistic life. Yet, he chose to ignore the status of the scores, of the majors, and of the schools. Rosellini simply valued the education and the knowledge acquired from extensive teaching and study. With this, Rosellini also acquired wisdom-something more valuable then any education. Somewhere this importance is lost along the grade school road. But this year, as we cram for exams or labor over SAT prep and college applications, it is vital that we find time to step away and rediscover it.