As we all know, this year has not been the best. It is not the year we were all looking forward to. This year has been a year that has been like a rollercoaster. From wildfires to a worldwide pandemic to protests and many other crazy events. But we are getting closer to the end of the year, so we need to start reflecting about everything that happened, and we need to look ahead to next year and better things.

Many of us have started thinking of what we want our next year to look like. We start envisioning everything that we want to happen. In an informal survey of dreams and goals for students and staff was taken and about 63% have materialistic desires, 25% have dreams that include their family, and 12% have dreams of their own to accomplish.

Becoming a parent is a life-changing event, and perhaps even more so during a pandemic. English teacher Mireya Gutierez’s number one goal is to protect her daughter..“I would want people to take COVID-19 precautions more seriously. The sooner they do, the earlier we will be able to have gatherings. I want my daughter to grow up in a safe environment and right now it is not looking good.” Next, she would like to think more positively about everything she does and be more organized. She plans to achieve this by making a structured plan and managing her time better. Lastly, she would like to continue with her creative writing. “I plan to have a different mindset.”

Being apart from family for too long can produce worries within yourself. The thing Luz Bautista wants to do the most, is to visit his grandparents. “Lately he has been feeling really sick and my family is scared something might happen to him.” She plans to visit him during my vacations next year. Her primary concern is his health and hopes he can recover fast from his illness. She would like for next year to be like it used to be before we were in a pandemic. “It should be different from this year, because this year we always have to be in our house, except when  going to get something.” She also commented that it has been different in a way that now we have to take precautions, like being separated from others by 6 feet, or sanitizing everything or us if we touch something.

Dreaming big and working hard to achieve your goals. Gregory Cabrera loves playing basketball as for that he continues to practice to become the best player he possibly can. Cabrera states, “I’m trying to get my name out into the world as the best player in basketball.” He would like all of this pandemic stuff to go away. Cabrera wants for things to go back to normal and everyone to be healthy so we can finally get out of our houses freely without having to wear masks. Even though overall this year has not been the best, Cabrera says he does not anything that happened because all the mistakes he committed opened his eyes and showed him the things he was wrong in and learned from.

For many of the respondents, 63 percent, were focused on material things. Many were committed to look for a job to earn some money, some plan on buying Xbox Series X,  Playstation 5, Apple Watch, a new car, or the new iPhone 12.

While we usually wait until the new year to make resolutions or set goals, it’s okay to set them at any time, and after the year we’ve lived through, we all need to be a lot more hopeful going forward. At the very least, we need to try and see the light at the end of this pandemic tunnel and make a commitment to do what we can to end it sooner.