Tips for a New School Year

Tips+for+a+New+School+Year

All of the following are quotes from students, but they have been edited and combined for length and clarity.

 

Advice for freshman

  • Don’t procrastinate. 
  • Make friends whenever you can and remember that everyone is new and just as nervous as you are. Take advantage and make some lasting friendships.
  • Do work, but also get involved with friends and clubs.
  • School is hard, but stay positive and don’t lose motivation.
  • Don’t slack off. Even if it seems easy, do your work as if it was difficult. Put time and effort into it. If you stay ahead on work, you will have little stress.
  • Schedule your time wisely so that you can fit everything in and have time for extra events you want to do, not only school work.
  • At times, the way tests are scheduled, there are going to be weeks without a test and then randomly two weeks full of assignments and exams, so don’t mistakenly think high school is always that easy during the period of light work; take advantage of it.
  • Don’t sign up for too many clubs.
  • Enjoy freshman year! 

— the sophomores

 

Advice for sophomores

  • Don’t procrastinate!
  • Don’t stress too much!
  • Enjoy sophomore year before you become a junior – sophomore year is when you actually become close with your friends & have fun & go out.
  • Find a proper balance between social and school life, too much of one isn’t good.
  • Enjoy the year and spend time with your friends! Don’t even think about college!
  • Make good use of your time, be organized, take good notes, and try to start studying for test 2 or 3 days in advance.
  • Work hard.
  • Enjoy sophomore year!

— the juniors

 

Advice for juniors

  • Don’t procrastinate!
  • Time management is key. If you spend less time stressing out about school and standardized tests and instead actually do your work, you will probably have time to do fun stuff and hang out with your friends.
  • Try to do as much work as possible in advance!!
  • Try not to stress so much, you don’t need junior year to be ALL about work – still have fun and make the most of it!
  • Sometimes there are moments that feel awful, but you will get through it. And you’ll feel even better at the end because of all the hard work you have put into junior year.
  • Take SAT/ACT studying really seriously in the beginning of the year so your stress levels will be lower later on in the year. The earlier you get it done, the happier you will be. 
  • Have fun and don’t overwork yourself.
  • YOU GOT THIS!!!

— the seniors

 

Advice for seniors

  • You will need to work hard, and recognize that if you don’t commit to the grind you will fall behind.
  • Start your essays early!
  • There’s not a lot of work second semester, so stay on top of what work you DO have or the last day of school comes and you have Ws and ton of absence essays to write and that isn’t a good feeling.
  • Have a sick time – it’s the best year of your life, so live up to it.
  • Take classes you’re actually interested in but MAKE SURE TO READ COURSE DESCRIPTIONS.
  • Go to class. Do your work. Don’t get senioritis too early.
  • Try and remember that the whole college process does not define who you are. If you don’t get accepted to your top choice, it doesn’t mean you aren’t good enough. Sometimes you can be more than qualified and still not get in. That doesn’t define you are mean anything about who you are. Just remember that things will always work out in the end! In the short term, it doesn’t seem like it, but the quicker you realize it, the better off you’ll be!

— the class of 2019