1. It’s all about attitude:
A positive attitude can be all the difference between having a pleasant, enjoyable school year and having a lousy one. A lot of things are going to change; your teachers and their expectations, your workload, possibly group of friends. As long as you can stay positive and roll with the punches, you will be more likely to succeed.
2. Be organized:
This may seem fairly simple, but you would be surprised how chaotic your things can become. Freshman Joe Neteland said, “The thing I’m most afraid of is not being able to keep up with all this work and losing things.” If you let yourself become disorganized, you risk losing assignments or work in the black hole you call your backpack or locker. Be sure to have a clear separation between your locker partner’s and your things. Be sure to organize your things in whatever system is most beneficial for you to find what you need quickly.
3. Exercise Balance in your Life:
As any teacher or staff member will tell you, schoolwork is important, even in your freshman year. You should take classes that will be enough of a challenge to push you, but not so difficult that you are continually lost. This goes for all levels of academics from advanced to remedial. That’s not to say that schoolwork should be your life, however. High school is also a crucial time to develop necessary social skills. As you begin your first year, you will need to learn to balance doing your personal best with schoolwork and becoming involved in social activities outside of school.
4. Be Involved:
You’re only in high school once. Why not make the most of it? Find a club or sport that fits your personal interests and join. There’s a club for you out there no matter who you are. Extracurriculars are a good way to meet other people with similar interests and to be involved in your school. Junior Cassidy Sheehan said, “Joining clubs will help your high school career overall and help you improve as a person as you make new friends.”
5. Relax:
Starting high school can be nerve-racking, with all the changes and higher amounts of pressure. Sometimes it can help to just take a step back from a situation and take a break. Sometimes when you’re in a high-stress situation–you’re about to give a speech, a midterm is coming up– your anxiety can make things worse for you. There are several ways to deal with stress as it arises. First of all, you should try to always be prepared. If you’ve practices that speech or studied for that test, what have you got to worry about? But sometimes, stress isn’t coming from academics, but from your social life. In these situations, it helps to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Will anyone really care if you wear something unfashionable or say something stupid? What most people fail to realize is that everyone is the protagonist of their own lives; in other words, very few people will be as focused on you as you are yourself. So, next time you find yourself nervous before a speech, worried over whether or not someone will like your new haircut, concerned if people will notice the stain on your sweater, just remember: no one is looking at you as closely as you are. Most people will be too focused on their own issues to be concerned with yours.
Mikayla Rust, Editor in Chief
