Every year people around the world enter the new year with a set of resolutions and goals that they plan to follow. Many of the students and even the staff at Joliet West participate in this yearly ritual. Recently, the idea of ins and outs for the new year has become popular among social media platforms, so with the new year, we are bringing in new ways to achieve our goals. 

For many of the staff at Joliet West, ins and outs for the new year is a fairly new concept. Social workers, Mrs. Beckham and Mr. Robinson were unaware of the term. Bot

h stated that they tend to set goals for themselves every new year, so they were intrigued at the idea of ins and outs and thought up and shared them. Mr. Robinson stated his ins were to “save money, grow more spiritually,” and “get to learn the students and what they go through” at Joliet West. Some of his outs were to stop letting people walk over him and to stop enabling others. Mrs. Beckham wanted to keep growing her business, save money, and to spend more time with God. Her outs included unnecessary spending, overworking herself, and unhealthy eating.

In addition to some of the social workers at West I interviewed College counselor Mrs. Justice and Mr. Winfrey about their ins and outs. Ms. Justice want

s to continue to put herself first and say no and she is leaving “worrying what others think of me” in 2023. 

While Mr. Winfrey stated that he typically does not make new year’s resolutions, he liked the idea of ins and outs and wants to keep his close friends and loyalty in 2024 and leave fake and non-close friends in 2023. 

There were some common themes within the Joliet West staff on ins and outs for the new year. I found myself agreeing with many of the staff members on their ins and outs, and I think the concept of ins and outs is better than the idea of simple new year’s resolutions.