adventures of a typical high school student

Welcome back everyone!

Today I have more high school advice for you all- I know that the start of school is inching closer and closer, so I wanted to put something out that may calm all of you incoming freshmen out there. I already put up a post a while ago called “Advice I Wish I Got Before Starting High School”, so if you haven’t read that already, go check it out! Some of the tips in that post will be similar to these, but I wanted to write this post since I made a similar “survival guide” for middle schoolers. If you’re an incoming freshman, I was in your shoes only a year ago and trust me- high school is not nearly as scary as you think. My freshman year flew by so incredibly fast, and even though it’s an adjustment from middle school, you’ll find your way fairly quickly.

Here are some tips that will hopefully make this new and exciting experience seem a little less scary and a little more doable:

• Get involved ASAP!! This is one of the most important pieces of advice I could give you. Join things related to your interests as soon as possible- whether it’s clubs, electives, sports teams, other programs your school has, whatever! There are two reasons this is so important- you will most likely meet a ton of new people that you already have things in common with, and it’s also good for college applications down the road that you started finding extracurriculars you care about back in freshman year (and you can continue doing them and growing your passion all throughout high school!). Don’t be afraid to join something if you don’t know anyone- just do it and you can always quit it later if it ends up not being your thing or you don’t end up making friends there.
• Expand your horizons and keep an open mind. This is a very broad statement, but I think that’s why it works. You’re going to be meeting lots of new people that may be different from what you’re used to, you’re being thrown into a new environment, and you’ll most likely have more on your plate than you ever have before. Try to have a positive attitude going into each day and every new experience you encounter- it will make it much easier to enjoy it all.
• Accept that groups will change and people will be intermixing between them. It was hard for me to accept this one. Based on classes and extracurriculars/sports, everyone around you will be making new friends, and it’s natural for your group to split up in different directions. This can honestly be a positive thing though; it gives you chances to branch out and if you maintain relationships with some of your friends even if you drift apart a little, you can form connections with their new groups as well. Some of the happiest and most social people I know have a few different close friends that are all spread across groups, and then they rotate among those different groups and socialize with all the people in them.
• It’s okay to drift from middle school friends. This goes with the last tip, but I just wanted to stress this point. Before I mentioned friends splitting up in different directions but still maintaining their individual friendships- it doesn’t always happen like this, and sometimes you will completely drift away. That’s totally fine; it happens to everyone at some point. You most likely won’t even have the same friends all throughout high school- things constantly change and you’ll learn to roll with it.
• Talk to as many people as possible. Especially if you’re at a big high school (mine has around 2500 kids and my grade is about 600), there will be TONS of people you’ve never seen or met before- there are still people I don’t know. Try and make a couple new friends in each of your classes; that way, you’ll definitely have at least one person you can ask about homework or other assignments, and you could even ask them to study with you. Everyone’s in the same position as you, so don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation.
• Don’t get intimidated by upperclassmen. You most likely won’t interact with upperclassmen at all unless you’re in super advanced classes or if you’re on a varsity sports team/in other activities with mixed grades. They honestly don’t care about freshmen; freshmen don’t have the best reputation on campus, but no self-respecting junior or senior will actually go out of their way to take harmful action against them. Some may actually be nice if you get to know them and they see you’re not one of the immature freshies! Tip: Don’t walk slow!!! That realllly annoys the upper grade students.
• Know that in high school, people in relationships are usually just dating to date. This is a personal opinion but I really believe this; the truth is, most people dating in high school aren’t going to stay together forever and get married. Therefore, there isn’t a huge purpose to getting into a relationship and dealing with all the drama that often follows. Obviously do whatever you want because it’s your choice; if you feel strongly towards a person and they like you back, go for it! Just make sure you’re in it for the right reasons and it’s a person you genuinely like and can see yourself having fun with- preferably, a nice person that you would be able to stay friends with after breaking up.
• Take challenging classes (AP/IB, honors) as soon as they are offered to you (if you know you can handle them)! You want to make the most of high school and challenge yourself as much as possible. This is important for college as well- schools want to see that you’re taking a rigorous course load each year and doing as well as possible in those classes. Don’t overload yourself with academics if you already have a lot of time-consuming activities that are important to you though; in the end, those activities are more important since you genuinely care about them and they will set you apart from other students once you apply to colleges. Keep your grades up though!! Some people say freshman year grades don’t matter, but they count for your cumulative GPA so they are still important.
• Enjoy the beginning of the year- 1st semester is so much more fun than 2nd. This is my personal opinion and some people may disagree with this, but I found the beginning of the year was the best part!! Football season and all of the time spent with new friends and just getting a feel for the year happens then, plus the holiday season and all the events that come with that are just the best. Second semester is a lot more stressful; there’s a lot more work and tests along with higher expectations from teachers, plus you’ll just be counting down the days until summer so it seems to go by so much slower. Either way, soak in all those beginning-of-the-year moments before you’re stuck in the late winter/spring slump.
• You will learn to balance it all eventually. Just have fun!! Time flies 🙂 I stressed out wayyyy too much during most of my freshman year when it wasn’t really necessary. I wish I relaxed a bit more and just lived in the moment; I didn’t appreciate my surroundings as much as I could have, and I regret it looking back now. Make sure you take any opportunity to have fun with your friends while also staying on top of your work and other responsibilities- it’s a lot of work, but everything will work out! I promise it’s worth it.

I hope these little pieces of advice helped you guys out! I promise you guys will be fine and even flourish once you get to school; everyone finds their path. Let me know if you have any more questions about high school or any school-related content requests- I’m always happy to help. I’m currently at cheer camp (I wrote and scheduled this post a couple days in advance), so posts about that are coming soon as well, they will probably go up once I return!

-Brooke