As the class of 2024 approaches the end of their journey at Woodbridge High, they reminisce on favorite memories and think back to their years in high school, ranking the years from favorite to least favorite. 

According to a March Golden Arrow Instagram poll, 43% of seniors liked their junior year the most. 

Sreekrutha Pochampally

Senior Sreekrutha Pochampally enjoyed her senior year the most. 

“I think senior year is the year where I felt most secure, not just in myself, but in all the activities I’m doing. I really found my place,” Pochampally said. “It hasn’t been my first year for anything…[In] senior year, I’ve already had at least a year of experience doing every activity or every extracurricular.”

Since Pochampally was already experienced in many of the activities she participated in her senior year, she was comfortable with all the extracurriculars she was involved in. This allowed her to expand to new areas and try new things including clubs and classes.

Looking back at her senior year, her favorite memories were made as part of the dance team. 

“Being on the dance team senior year has been so fun because there’s been so many senior activities that we do,” Sreekrutha said. “Since I already know most people on the team, we’re all so close and it’s so fun to hang out with them.”

Her second favorite year was sophomore year. Pochampally’s sophomore year was during the 2021-2022 school year, which for many was their first normal year back to school after online and hybrid learning due to Covid-19.

“Sophomore year…I was still in this stage where I didn’t have to worry that much about college…and academics were super easy,” Pochampally said. 

This was also the year where she had endless amounts of free time because she wasn’t doing as many activities. 

Her least favorite year was junior year because of all the stress. 

“I’d say junior year because the academic stress was so overwhelming,” Pochampally said. “I was so unsure about everything and I always felt…everyone else was ahead of me and…I didn’t know if [I was] good enough or if [I was] doing enough.”

Yuval Fang

Senior Yuval Fang liked his junior year the most because it was his first fully normal year back from hybrid and online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I think personally, my favorite year was junior [year]…I think junior year was the best for me…junior year felt like the first year where it was fully back to normal,” Fang said. “I had a lot of fun because I think it was a good mix of challenging classes and a lot of social events.”

He also liked his junior year the most because it was the year that he made the varsity team in water polo and it was the year he was the most involved in extracurriculars.

Fang’s favorite memory from his junior year is the week of clash of the classes. 

“It was super competitive…and just in general, that whole week…watching all the competitions…was really exciting for me,” Fang said.

His second favorite year was senior year because it was better than his freshman and sophomore year where he didn’t get as much of a high school experience, but it still wasn’t as amazing as his junior year. 

Fang’s least favorite year was his freshman year.

“My freshman year was, like, fully Covid,” Fang said. “We really didn’t get a big high school experience and most of it was sitting at home. 

Katie Lee

Senior Katie Lee enjoyed her sophomore year the most because it was her first year back to in-person learning.

“It was my favorite because it was our first year back from distance learning which made it like our first year at high school,” Lee said. “We were able to do everything we missed out [on] our freshman year like football games, dances, and pep rallies.”

Lee had many wonderful memories from her sophomore year that made her sophomore year special. One of these memories, her favorite one, began the moment she stepped foot on Woodbridge High’s campus.

“My favorite memory was coming back to campus for the first time and seeing everyone’s faces in real life. Also getting to sit in a full classroom felt so surreal,” Lee said. “It was a mixture of something that I had missed so much but it felt so weird because it had been such a long time since we were all in the same place.”

Another one of her favorite memories of sophomore year involved homecoming.

“Our sophomore year homecoming skit was one of the best memories I had dancing to Starships and Space Jam. It was our first skit and our class was so excited to participate,” Lee said. “All the rehearsals and getting together to practice [were] so fun…[it] really set the tone for the next few years.”

Her second favorite year was senior year because she was finally done with all her college applications, which left her with a lot of free time. Lee could finally relax and spend quality time with her family and friends.

“…I’m all done with college applications and decisions. I feel so relaxed and so much less stressed than the last few years,” Lee said. 

Lee’s least favorite year was freshman year because it was especially difficult. In addition to all the stress that came from transitioning to a new school, she also had to adapt to online, completely remote learning.