Entering a new year, 50% of Americans create a New Year’s resolution, according to CBS news. As stated by the Pew Research Center, common themes for resolutions across all ages include finances, personal relationships, hobbies, and work, with young adults aged 18-29 being the most likely to create a New Year’s resolution at all.
Two students and a teacher shared their goals for 2025, along with opinions on setting goals for a new year. When asked about her goals for 2025, Woodbridge High junior Nyah Terry said, “My new years resolution [is] to be like, a little more organized… with schoolwork and like planning out what I wanna do each day,” said Terry. She also mentioned working to keep her room neat in an effort to keep an organized mind through her workspace.
“I feel like last year, I was definitely like a little bit all over the place” said Terry, pointing towards her motivation being previous experiences, and rather, trying to avoid finding herself in the same situations.
Freshman Nolan Hoang set resolutions pertaining to his academics, along with his sport, basketball. “I just really wanna get straight A’s in all my classes, like, including this upcoming semester… and the first semester of sophomore year,” said Hoang. He states his own hopes to improve academically from his first semester of high school. Hoang then added on to his goals, including wishes to “get better at [his] sport, basketball” and make the JV team at the start of the new school year in 2025.
For Hoang, his academic resolutions are important to him because of his future, stating that improving his grades is essential to him because because “they set you up for college and later in life, like your careers.”
However, Hoang’s objectives for basketball are motivated more by “personal achievement and enjoyment,” though he also mentioned that achieving them would also be good for future endeavors like applying for college.
Students aren’t the only ones on campus setting goals for the new year. “For 2025, I want to get back to hiking every Saturday with my mom and my dog,” said AP Human Geography long
term substitute Kaylee Jennejohn.
One big factor as to why she chose this goal was spending quality time with her mom. “We used to do this, and then we kinda, got lost over the last couple of years, so I figured, it’s a good way for us to bond,” said Jennejohn. In addition, she mentioned the activity being beneficial in terms of health, serving as good exercise for both her dog and herself.
Of course, opinions on the idea of a “fresh start” with the coming of a New Year differ. “It’s something that…for people who struggle with motivation, it can be a time where maybe it can be that extra push that they finally need to help them get there,” said Jennejohn.
Terry was unsure about the idea, sharing her opinion that people should be more realistic with their resolutions, gradually setting achievable goals rather than thinking of a new year as a complete reset and trying to change everything immediately.
Regardless of personal resolutions, New Years is a time for everyone to reflect on their achievements of the previous year and plan for the year ahead as we enter 2025.
