Lina Li

	In their own words, 16-year-olds discuss the pressures of getting into college, dating, blogging and more 16 by 16 • Ari Rubin • Carlyle Manns • Caroline Cox-Orrell • Chelsey Knight • Janelle Norman • Meredith-Leigh Pleasants • Tia Whipple • Kelvin Bates • Lisa Bunn • Shukan Patel • Lina Li • Stephen Serene • Jullia Park • Patty Yau • Ana Baric • CJ Martino Getting A Head Start • The New World of Internships Those unpaid summer jobs are no longer for rich kids, college juniors—or even just for summer Multimedia • Sixteen Candles Inside a Sweet 16 Party

Junior year has always been branded the hardest year of high school. As a 16-year-old, the difficult decisions that seemed so far away before are now just around the corner. What college do I want to go to? Where do my parents want me to go? Can I afford it? What if I get rejected? The feeling that your future depends on your grades and your test scores is what makes junior year so painfully long. The stress that you won’t do well on your SATs or SAT IIs is overwhelming. These tests and the review classes that lead up to them make being a 16-year-old simply not enjoyable in any fashion. They make us feel like our lives have become a series of steps to reach a goal that we may not be satisfied with in the end.





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