Thinking back to when I was at your level of German, I remember quite a few things. At least at Thompson Valley, German was always "the language students who failed out of Spanish or French had to take in order to graduate", that ugly duckling that, unlike Spanish, had no future use and was little more than a hobby. Though perhaps not as frequently encountered as Spanish in the United States, the German language is of paramount importance just a stone's toss across the Atlantic pond in Europe and the E.U. As my parting gift before you go through finals and enjoy a much-needed Christmas break, I'm going to tell y'all how you can enjoy Europe, as I have while still getting through school!
High school:
First and foremost, for high schoolers, there are a few possibilities y'all should look into: The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX; https://exchanges.state.gov/us/program/congress-bundestag-youth-exchange...) allows high schoolers (there is also a CBYX for people in college, so keep that in mind!) to spend a year abroad in a Hochschule learning about and immersing yourself in German society.
