New Year’s Resolutions Follow-Up: Have These Students Reached Their Goals?

According to a poll conducted by the New York Post, it takes an average of 32 days to break a New Year’s resolution, but “68% [of people] report giving up their resolutions even sooner than that.” 

In January, The Bear Witness interviewed three students about their goals for 2021. They had just begun dipping their toes into their new ambitions, hopeful and optimistic to pursue them into the year. 

Five months have passed since then, so where do these students stand now? Have their New Year’s aspirations fallen through, or are they still going strong? 

Freshman Kami Taylor’s goal was to beat a six minute and 20 second mile.  

And in April, she did. 

Taylor said at the beginning of the year, she thought her goal was “pretty reasonable.” 

She planned to train six days a week towards this goal. She stayed loyal to that plan, and it paid off. 

Her journey to reaching her target mile time was not always easy. 

“It got frustrating at times, but I am proud of myself,” she said. 

Taylor’s goal was easily measurable, but freshman Isabel Pino’s goal wasn’t. 

Pino’s goal was “trying to get out more, hang out with my friends and [be] more open to new things and having different mindsets,” she said in January. 

To accomplish this, Pino said she aimed to go to the gym or park every day 

 “It’s mainly for my mentality, because working out is kind of where I go to get away from everybody and just do my own thing for a little bit of the day, because we all need alone time,” she said at the time.  

Pino said in late April that she was content with how often she exercises. She said she had been going to the gym “as much as possible.” 

Freshman Alex Diaz’s goal at the beginning of the year was to get better grades. He wanted to start off his high school career with strong grades so he could show colleges he was serious, he said. 

Near the beginning of the second semester, he was full of motivation and thought he was on track towards beating his resolution. 

By last month, Diaz said he didn’t have as much motivation as he did at the beginning of the year, but he was still pushing himself through.  

He said he was “being productive and doing extra work” to improve his grades. 

The grades weren’t as high as he’d hoped they’d be, but he said he was still on track for “pretty average grades.”