Hello small ones,

In my four years at the Bergen County Academies, I’ve had my share of being told what to do by various different people. My two cents will be on how to hear your own voice when so many others are shouting at you.

I myself think I joined AMST because I thought at the time that it was what I truly wanted. My family wanted it for me, too. It’s not all bad, though. If I hadn’t gone to BCA, it would have taken until college for me to realize that I hated medicine with all the blood in my body. But that’s okay. One great thing that BCA does is it introduces you to what an advanced track in your chosen subject is like, and gives you a taste of what you’ll do in college. If not for this school, I would have figured out that I did not want to be a doctor when I was already knee-deep in college Pre-Med. No matter what track you take here, you will have learned something. You will have made extraordinary friends. I definitely did.

For those of you who will have Mr. Zhang in freshman year: his class is fun. It’s great a lot of the time, and you’ll learn a large fraction of what you need to know for AP Bio. The class definitely gives you a leg up in BCA. But I think one of the bad things he helped teach me, even unintentionally, was to attach my self-worth to the quality of my grades. Yes, if you want to have a high GPA then you will need to develop excellent time management skills and study habits that you didn’t previously need. This means you have to put in the work and always ask for help if you need it (you will need it). But spending all your time striving for that can often feel like your value as a person is dependent on your performance in school. Please, please do not fall into that trap.

You are going to have to take a lot of required classes just because it’s a necessity, but remember to take classes you like. Some people are going to tell you that you have to do research, join certain clubs, or take certain AP classes if you’re in BCA. Don’t listen to them. Do what you think is right for you, not what others expect you to do. This school is supposed to benefit you, not bolster its own prestige.

If a guidance counselor tells you not to apply to a certain college in your senior year but you want to anyway, remember that only you have the right to decide where you apply. You make your own decisions. If you have a dream school you really want to go to, take that chance. You might just get in.

It’s a lot more fun if you keep the attitude that you’re going to school for the enjoyment. Whatever else, try as hard as you can to keep getting joy from learning. Even if you did bad on a test, or feel like you understand less than everyone in your class, keep in mind that you did your best, and you learned something in the process. You are going to be surrounded by people that are just as smart, if not smarter than you. You will be encouraged to cooperate, but I can’t promise that friends won’t be pitted against each other. And somewhere along the way, either by a teacher, a classmate, your guidance counselor, or just the riptide of expectations pulling you under, you will be made to think against all logic that you just do not measure up. To anyone reading my words, heed this:

YOU ARE ALWAYS ENOUGH. YOU ARE EXTRAORDINARY.

Anyone who says otherwise is talking bullcrap.

So many alumni say that BCA is the absolute dumbest they’ve ever felt in their lives. And it’ll probably be true for you, too. Don’t be discouraged by the echo chamber you live in. Good luck, small ones.

Sincerely,

A Dumb Gay Senior From AMST