On March 3, ninth graders had their third Gateway course of the semester. This course stepped away from topics of sexual relationships from past Gateway courses and focused on the familiar discussion of procrastination and motivation.

Ms. Sloan took to the stage and presented bold new perspectives on the psychology behind how motivation affects our everyday work. She stressed the difference between being lazy and having low motivation, and displayed lack of motivation as a key cause of procrastination. To get past this lack of motivation, Ms. Sloan presented tips such as dealing with fear, making lists, breaking up tasks into more doable sections, eliminating distractions, and, finally, rewarding yourself for completing tasks. Moving on, throughout the lecture, videos were shown to better explain the points Ms. Sloan had highlighted. The audience cheered and “awhs” filled the auditorium as the video showed a toddler practicing patience. After the presentation ended with familiar reminders for self-care, reflections were handed out and students cooperated nicely by filling them out. Students also demonstrated their ability to participate as many students were willing to share their experiences with procrastination and motivation. They were willing to expose their fears about work and their strategies to overcome their dread.

As common feelings were shared between students, the Gateway course came to an end. The ninth graders walked off to their next class with a new understanding of how a lack of motivation causes procrastination and how to overcome these problems.

(Written by 9(3) Angela Luo Pictures by Wenqian Wu Supervised by Meijun Shi Reviewed by Qian Zuo)