Welcome back everyone!

Now that school is about to be or already is in session depending on where you live, it’s back to doing homework and studying for tests. If you’re in high school, you probably had the option to enroll in some AP or honors level courses. Choosing to take these courses is a great way to challenge yourself and boost your GPA, but you have to do well in them for it to be worth your time and energy. I’m here to give you some tips that will help you succeed in these classes, so if you’re interested, keep reading!

• Do all your homework – A lot of worksheet/reading question type assignments will mainly be graded for completion, so it’s silly to not get those points. Doing your homework will also prepare you for your tests, so you won’t need to study as much.
• Write down all due dates and test dates as soon as you hear about them – Having a written record (especially in a planner) of when things are happening can help you plan ahead and you won’t drop the ball and forget anything.
• READ the assigned readings for classes, ESPECIALLY books for English – Similar to doing your homework, this prepares you for your tests and there’s no reason not to do it. If you really don’t have time it’s okay to skim it, but make sure to try your best. Most books you’ll read in English are actually pretty good, too.
• When there’s extra credit offered, do it – Even if you have a high grade, it’s important to get the extra points since they can help you out at the end of a grading period. Often times extra credit comes in form of study guides/review type things, so it also helps prepare you for tests!
• Befriend your teachers – If your teachers like you, they’ll be a bit more lenient if you are a bit behind on assignments. Ask for help when you need it and just get to know them because they can be pretty cool people!
• Start studying on the weekend or two days before a test – Again, you obviously won’t always have time to do this; when you do, it helps LOADS. I always study in advance for vocab tests because it’s just memorization and then I barely have to worry about it the night before. Whatever works for you and fits in your schedule, do it!
• If your teachers don’t give you study guides, make your own – I find that study guides really help me master material before a test. Sometimes teachers will give you a clear-cut one that tells you what’s on the test which is amazing, but other times you have to figure it out for yourself. Either way, make some form of study guide you can quiz yourself with.
• Take advantage of online resources – Quizlet, SparkNotes/LitCharts, and other helpful websites are lifesavers! If there’s any others your teachers/peers recommend, use those as well. Also, your teachers/school will often have their own websites where they post resources, assignments, a calendar of dates, etc., so make sure to check that.
• Pay attention in class and participate – Sometimes participation is a part of your grade; in which case this is very important, but even if it’s not graded, you still want to show your teachers you care. Listening to lectures and participating in class activities makes time go by way faster- most of the time.
• Keep all of your papers/materials organized – It’s easier to get everything done when you have it organized and together. You’ll work much more efficiently when you know where all your papers are and everything is laid out for you. Keep things in order of when you’ll be turning them in and/or importance, and have a notebook or binder for either every class or one for every two classes- whatever you prefer.
• Work ahead when you know you’ll be busy later in the week – If you already know you have a test Thursday but you have a sports game Wednesday, study for the test Monday and Tuesday. As long as you have everything written down in a planner, you’ll know how to build your schedule around your work and other time commitments.
• Compare notes/study with others – Collaboration definitely helps, as long as you stay on task. Pool all your knowledge and study material, and quiz each other (I find back-and-forth quizzing works the best). It also helps to collaborate on intimidating assignments, but make sure you’re doing your own work- cheating is only cheating yourself.
• Get the Princeton Review AP prep books and start studying about a month in advance for AP tests – This is only for AP classes, but it’s an essential step for acing the test in May. Make sure you have prep books that can help you review all of the general curriculum and give yourself plenty of time to study. Drilling practice tests is the best thing to improve your score.

I hope these tips helped you and made you feel a little bit more confident in your abilities to do well in a high-level course. Once you get a bit farther into the school year and adjust, the workload won’t seem too much harder than a normal class. It’s all about learning how to maximize your points/grading and figuring out your teacher’s grading style. However, it’s also important to actually engage in the class and learn from it; I personally feel that AP and honors courses are way more interesting. Let me know if you have any more questions about these types of classes or any requests for future content!

-Brooke

Hello everyone!

I have another back-to-school post for you all today: how I read and annotate books for school. In middle school I never had any strategy and was honestly always confused about what I was doing or looking for whenever I read for school purposes; I was used to reading for fun and only paying attention to the main plot. That didn’t work out so well once I started high school; luckily, I had an amazing English teacher to guide my class and now I feel much more confident in my annotating skills. I’m going to pass on my strategies and main tips, but just know different things work for different people- it also depends on your school/teachers and what they actually tell you to look for in a book.

• Have a bunch of different colored highlighters and make a key in the front of the book for themes/motifs/symbols (or a mix, whatever you’re looking for) – Assigning a color to a theme will make it much easier to identify when flipping through your book or pulling quotes for essays, and it also may help you remember things better just by the color association. This is a lifesaver because when you find something that represents the theme/symbol/motif you just highlight it with that color and you’re good! My teacher last year always gave us the themes that we would be looking for examples for throughout the book at the beginning of a unit, so I can’t help much if you’re on your own to figure those out when reading- the main themes of a book can often be looked up online though.
• Use SparkNotes or similar sites not IN PLACE OF reading, but SUPPLEMENTING your reading – If you’re reading something confusing and just need the simple version or even a translation sometimes (looking at you, Tale of Two Cities), these websites will always have something to help you out. I would write little notes from these in the margins of the actual book just so the “dumbed-down” version of what was going on was always there for reference. That being said, do NOT skip reading and just use these sites unless you’re on a time crunch and will go back and read at a later time. It’s also helpful to read these sites and the actual text chapter-by-chapter because it’s just extra studying/time spent familiarizing yourself with the material.
• Read a page (or even the whole chapter if this works for you) just to process, then go back and highlight/annotate/look up things you don’t understand – Similar to how reading the SparkNotes is like a second-review, sometimes you just need to actually read a passage twice and get that clarification. It may take a bit longer, but you’ll understand everything SO much better and you’ll have actually read the full thing, not just skipped to the things you want to highlight.
• LOOK UP WORDS/THINGS YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!! – This was something my teacher really drilled into our heads. This is super important to the context of certain sentences/the plot, especially if it’s an older book and there’s just historical/cultural references you don’t understand. Looking at SparkNotes may help you with some of the major things, but it’s important to even look up singular words that you don’t know. Even if they don’t end up being relevant, you’ll be expanding your vocabulary- plus, if those things come up in another book, you’ll recognize them then!

Those are the main things I do whenever we’re reading a book in class. I’m lucky to have had a teacher that pointed us in the right direction of reading strategies last year; I hope these help you out, but I know every teacher might be looking for different things. In high school English classes, you’re pretty much always reading something (unless you’re writing!). I really enjoy reading, but I know it’s a completely different animal when you have to do it in a classroom and it comes with homework and assignments. Just try to enjoy the books you read in class; most of them are probably really good pieces of literature, and often classics. Let me know if you guys have any questions or requests- I’ll be back with more exciting content soon!

-Brooke

Hello everyone!

Today I’m going to be discussing a topic that I was curious about not so long ago: how to receive mail from different colleges. There weren’t many resources or articles discussing it, so I figured out a few things on my own and have now started to receive various mail and brochures from colleges! It’s kind of exciting to get anything in the mail, especially something from a school. If you’re interested in getting information on certain schools or anything of the sort, keep reading. Fair warning: depending on what you sign up for, your email box may be stuffed on the regular.

There are two main approaches to how you can begin getting mail/emails from universities. The first and most obvious one would be to sign up for their mailing lists. I would only recommend doing this if you have specific schools in mind/a few you’re really interested in, because you may have to fill out quite a few fields and it can be very time-consuming.

The second approach would be to check the box on AP tests/the PSAT/SAT regarding if you would like to receive communication/mail from colleges. I don’t know what the exact wording or name of it is, but it’s pretty clear on the scantron. I checked this box on my AP Human Geography test this year and didn’t get anything from it, so it may only catch schools’ attention if you are taking core subject APs or the PSAT/SAT. College Board has a page on their website called Student Search and you can sign up for the same thing (it’s meant to help you look for colleges, but the point is you can get some mail).

One last thing I wanted to mention is Naviance. It’s kind of a college-planning/future-planning tool that some schools and counselors use. I know not all schools use Naviance, but mine does- there’s an option where you can “like” certain schools and I think if you meet a certain threshold on stats or if a school is just known for sending lots of mail, there will be a notification that pops up saying a college would like to “communicate” with you. If you say yes and put in your information, you’ll start receiving mail that way. Naviance is a pretty cool resource in general, so I’ll probably go more into depth about how you can use it in another post.

I hope this post was informative in how you can start communicating with different colleges through mail; it’s definitely a shorter post, but that’s just because it’s a super simple topic! I know that it’s a little early to be thinking about the college process for myself as I’m a sophomore, but I’m an overthinker and think a lot about the future so it just happens. That being said, I figured this could help a lot of other people who are either getting started early like me, or juniors who are really starting to get involved in looking at schools. Let me know if you would like to see more posts related to the college process- I’ll be coming out with lots of other exciting content soon.

-Brooke

Good morning everyone!

Today I’m going to be giving any of you incoming freshmen out there a little checklist that will help you prepare for your first day of high school! I know this can be a scary time, but as long as you are prepared you will be fine; I was in your shoes only a year ago, and the time has flown by. These are just a few things that I wish someone told me to do or reminded me to do before my freshman year began. There’s nothing too crazy or demanding and I think it’s pretty general, so it should work for anyone entering high school.

• Attend your orientation – This is the first step to getting properly acquainted with your school. Here you’ll get your school ID, take your picture, get your locker and books, probably your schedule, everything like that. If you can’t make it due to a schedule conflict, make sure to attend the make-up orientation. Take the time to walk around the campus and see where your classes are if you already know your schedule, or just figure out the different buildings and such.
• Set your schedule as your phone lockscreen/background once you get it – It’s an easy way to always have your schedule on hand. If you’re not allowed to have your phone turned on throughout the school day, then put the paper schedule in the front cover area of a clear binder or folder. You’ll have access during the entire day and can reference it whenever you need without having to go through a bunch of stuff.
• Go school supply shopping, but only get the bare necessities – I wrote a post on what supplies you actually need for high school (go check it out if you haven’t already), but sometimes it varies by your teachers. Make sure you have the basics like pens, pencils, and paper, but wait until your teachers give you some form of list of required materials to buy anything else. This can end up saving you a lot of money, and it’s just better to make sure you actually use everything that you buy.
• Pick out your outfit the night before the first day of school, pack your lunch, etc. – I usually do this every night before school in general, but it’s especially important for the first day! You want to have everything set out- your supplies, outfit, lunch in the fridge, etc. You might be nervous in the morning but if you’ve already prepared everything you need, you at least don’t have to worry about forgetting anything.
• Plan out some form of morning meeting spot with your friends – A few things to consider are what time everyone else is coming to school (everyone usually comes way earlier than normal for the first day), if your friends have the same starting time as you (at my school some people take a 0 period), and where is a good spot to meet once you get there. It will make you a lot less nervous walking on campus if you have a particular destination and know that your friends will be waiting there.
• Attend the first rally/big sports game/event/club rush/anything of the school year – These are the events that will give you a feel for the school spirit and everything else going on at your school. It’s good to give your best attempt at getting involved and figuring out which activities you like early on; once you do, you don’t have to go to anything that you don’t enjoy anymore. It’s just good to give everything a shot since you never know what you’ll end up liking.
• Meet your counselor and talk after class/formally introduce yourself to your teachers – First impressions matter, and you’ll want to form strong relationships with these types of people as soon as possible. Obviously ask questions/for help if you need any, but it’s important to just go talk to these important mentors so you’re on their radar as someone who goes above and beyond to stand out.

I hope this checklist helps some of you guys out and gives you some piece of mind before the school year begins. I know lists (especially checklists) always calm me down since they give me a clear idea of what I need to be doing. Try not to worry too much about starting high school; it’s really not that scary once you get there, and there are tons of people in the same situation as you, including all your friends! Let me know if you have any more questions or concerns regarding freshman year or high school in general. I’ll have a few more back to school posts coming- I actually start school in one week, so soon I’ll be making actual school content!

-Brooke

Welcome back everyone!

I’m going to be discussing a topic that most people my age are a little too familiar with for one reason or another: drama, especially the drama found in high school. I feel like lots of people worry about getting wrapped up in drama or encountering mean girls once they start high school, and wonder how these occurrences can be avoided. I will be debunking some myths and discussing the answers to some of those burning questions that might be resting in your brain, so keep reading if you’re interested.

Before I say anything else, I would like to say: if you’re not actively seeking out drama or putting out those ~drama~ vibes into the universe, you most likely won’t get caught up in anything too crazy! It’s all about your attitude and how you treat other people. Obviously we’re all teenagers and can act dramatic at certain points for a variety of reasons, but as long as you avoid certain behaviors, avoid toxic people, and are openly pretty nice to everyone, you should be fine. There may be a few quarrels within your friend group at times, but hopefully that’s the extent of anything you experience- not everyone is going to get along ALL the time, not even the best of friends.

Tip #1: Don’t talk badly about people behind their backs. Honestly, don’t talk about people behind their backs at all unless it’s positive- and if it is, then still tell them to their face, because I’m sure they’d love to hear the compliment! This is something we all hear starting in middle school, but I feel like everyone’s only mature enough to actually live by this rule once they start high school. I know it can be tempting to make comments with your best friends, but just try your best to avoid making other people your topic of conversation. You never know what could get spread around or who could be overhearing, and you don’t want that energy out in the universe regardless.

Tip #2: Maintain friendliness with people you drift away from. I’ve mentioned this in other posts, but in high school your friend group will always be shuffling around and evolving. Sometimes this can be a source of drama; people leaving a group may be hated by their old “friends”, a person leaving a group may leave because they didn’t like their old “friends”, etc. If you are drifting away from a group or someone in your group is drifting away, that’s completely fine! Just make sure you communicate with everyone involved and let them know it’s not their fault and there’s no bad blood (unless there is… in which case just leave as quietly as possible). It’s much better to have a slightly awkward acquaintance-type friendship than become enemies.

Tip #3: Make friends with people in a variety of different friend groups! This is a great thing to do in general just because you can meet so many new people through these types of friendships and you’ll always have someone to talk to. However, another benefit of having friends in completely different groups is that if one group/your main group of friends is involving themselves in a lot of drama and kind of dragging you into it, you can be a sort of peacemaker and just go hang out with a different group in the meantime. Obviously don’t just ditch your friends if you get in an argument with someone; that’s something you need to work out together. But if people around you are getting involved in meaningless drama, you can just go somewhere else and come back once it’s over.

Tip #4: Being the peacemaker is a noble role to take on, but you can only take it so far. I know this sounds a bit odd the way I worded it, but I couldn’t think of a better way to explain this one. Basically, you can try and be the mediator in your friends’ drama and help them out, but there’s a certain point where it ends up with you being fully involved in it as well. Definitely try your best to help your friends out with whatever problems they may run into, but make sure you set boundaries and are able to step away from the issue if it’s not even your own.

Tip #5: If someone seems to be surrounded by drama, don’t get involved with them but still BE KIND! I feel like this is a mistake a lot of people make; they assume that just because someone has a toxic reputation, it means they don’t have to try and be nice to them. Obviously these types of people aren’t the ones you would want to take under your wing or befriend, but smiling and saying hi/small kind gestures still go a long way. You never know what that person is going through, so it’s just as important to be kind as it is to keep your distance. Try and spread your positive energy to everyone!

I hope you guys found this mini-guide useful; high school can be a dramatic time because of the abundance of social events and activities going on, but it doesn’t have to be a negative drama-fest. I am confident that you all will thrive during the school year and have relatively drama-free experiences, especially if you follow these tips! Let me know if you have any more questions about this topic or requests for new topics/posts. I’m always trying to come up with exciting content for you guys!

-Brooke

Welcome back guys!

Today I’m going to be answering a bunch of questions people often ask me about high school cheer. Lots of my friends at school play the more “common” sports and find the performance sports like cheer and dance intriguing, so I get asked a lot of questions. It’s also a completely different experience being a cheerleader in comparison to playing another sport since even though I’m still on a school team, it’s obviously a very spirited activity getting to cheer on our other sports teams.

Let’s quickly preface this with a little background about the logistics of my specific high school’s cheer team: my school has both a spirit cheer team and a competitive STUNT team, which has only been added about 3 or 4 years ago. I am only on the spirit cheer team- I chose not to participate in STUNT (the STUNT season goes from December through the end of the school year in case you were curious). The spirit cheer team used to attend some competitions a long time ago (back in the early 2000s) but now does not compete. We perform at football and basketball games only, but we practice in the late spring and throughout the summer, so our season goes from May through February when basketball season ends.

Our school also divides the cheer teams in a funky way; they are divided by grade level, not skill. The freshmen team is all freshmen, the JV team is all sophomores and varsity is all juniors and seniors. You either make the team for your grade level or you don’t make it into the program at all. Therefore, I was on the freshmen team last year and I am now on JV. I am not sure if I will continue doing cheer in junior or senior year/at the varsity level because it is a big time commitment (I may drop it in so I have the time to get a job) and I don’t plan on trying to cheer in college or anything of that sort; however, I am trying to make the most of this season since it may be my last!

For one last piece of background on my personal cheer experience, I was also on a half-year competition cheer team for beginners at my local cheer gym in eighth grade- I was interested in doing high school cheer and I wanted to gain some experience before trying out. I absolutely LOVED my comp team and we had so much fun; we ended up getting a bid to a competition Las Vegas and our trip there was amazing. Competitive cheer is definitely an intense sport, but it’s so unique and wonderful that it makes up for all the pressure. My half-year on that team was enough of a boost in skills for me to make school cheer team, so I said goodbye to my short-lived time as a competitive cheerleader and moved on to high school!

Now we can move onto the questions!

• So, cheer’s not really a sport, is it? Everyone has their own opinions on this, but I believe that cheer IS a sport, and an extremely difficult one at that. My specific high school cheer team is listed under the “Activities” section and not “Athletics”, but we still get athletic credit for it- it’s the same for dance. This seems fair to me since we don’t compete so we don’t really get the title of being a sport, but we still put in as much time and effort as other sports teams so we can get our P.E. credit. Some high school teams are AMAZING and go to competitions all over the country, so it just depends. I think all-star competitive cheer is obviously a sport with no explanation needed, but some people still disagree with that.
• What’s your opinion on cheer vs. dance vs. gymnastics? I’ve done dance and gymnastics briefly when I was young, and they are both so different from cheer. People should really stop comparing them because even if they all share certain elements, it doesn’t mean one is harder or better than the others. Even the way you perform in each of them is different (facials, etc.). I appreciate all three and often watch dance and gymnastics videos on my Instagram explore page. There’s so much we can learn from each other’s sports. The dance team at my school is overall much more well-liked than cheer, but it’s because they are competitive and have won national championships many times; they’re amazing!
• If you’re a cheerleader, are you popular/do you think you’re popular? Are all the other girls on the team popular? This is a major stereotype!! I do not think I am popular, I’m not popular, and I don’t think being a cheerleader has anything to do with popularity. I have a medium size group of friends, and only one of my other friends is on the cheer team with me. People actually make fun of the cheer team at my school for not being a real sport and such- we don’t have the best reputation. As for the other girls, quite a few of them actually are on the more popular side. However, this has nothing to do with them being cheerleaders; lots of their friends/other people in the popular groups are in completely different sports.
• Is cheer difficult or can anyone do it? Cheer is VERY difficult once you start progressing into harder stunts, tumbling, etc. That being said, I feel like anyone can START off with the basics of cheer if they’re willing to learn. Doing a prep or a cartwheel or learning a dance are skills you might have tried out with friends when you were younger; you probably still can today. However, trying to execute more difficult skills with good technique and constantly practicing full routines would be challenging for someone who’s not used to the pace or material- just like any other sport.
• Are you friends with all the football players/have you dated a football player? I am only friendly with one of the football players, and it’s unrelated to the cheer/football bond- we had a class together second semester and talked during that. Other than that, I just haven’t ever really connected with any of them, so no, I haven’t dated one either. A lot of the girls on my team are friendly with some of the football players, but mainly the ones they were already friends with before high school/outside of cheer.
• Can you do a “backflip”? I put in this one as a joke, but it’s something people ask a lot. I take tumbling classes two to three times a week at the local cheer gym I used to compete with, and I’m trying to get my back handspring. I have it on the trampoline/softer surfaces, but I just don’t have the confidence to try and throw it on the floor without someone spotting me. Short answer: No, but close!
• What’s your favorite part of being a cheerleader? Probably just the physical elements of cheer and the fact that I get to be part of such an amazing, unique sport. Stunts and tumbling are just so mezmerizing, and even though I can’t necessarily do the most difficult ones, it’s still cool to know that I’m part of this sport/world. I watch cheer videos online constantly, I follow famous competitive teams, and I’ve researched lots about the sport in general. I’m not the most talented at it or anything like that; however, I think it’s one of the coolest sports in the world. Cheering at games is also really cool since you get a closer view at the action, but it does get tiring in the heat.
• Why/how did you know you wanted to try cheer? Honestly, I did it on a whim. I tried every typical sport when I was younger but never particularly liked any or stuck to them, so once I was in middle school I just gave up. I had an older friend that was in high school and tried out for cheer because she didn’t play any other sport and didn’t want to do P.E.; she made it, said it was fun, and suggested I do the same thing. My favorite sports that I had tried were gymnastics and dance (I hadn’t been good, but I liked them) so I figured it was similar yet different enough that I should still give it a shot. I was in eighth grade at the time and one of my friends also expressed interest in doing cheer in high school since she didn’t play any other sport either- we told our moms we wanted to try it, and they found the local gym/beginner comp team.
• What’s the atmosphere at practice like? Is it chill since you don’t compete? If you had asked me this last year, you would’ve gotten a totally different answer. We had a very inexperienced coach last year for frosh and varsity (the old one quit and left the school scrambling to find someone) and she was extremely laid-back; she wanted us to be good, but she didn’t teach us anything and she didn’t really do anything if we didn’t meet her expectations besides lecture us and give us weird pep talks. She was very quirky in general… regardless, we only had practice 2 times a week for an hour and a half, and there were no rules about what we could wear to practice, hair and jewelry, etc. At the end of the season, she got fired and they brought the old coach back (she’s a teacher at the school so she wasn’t hard to reach) to be the head coach and varsity coach. They brought a coach from the local cheer gym I’ve been mentioning to coach freshman, and the JV coach remained the same as last year (she’s super sweet and has remained calm as long as I’ve known her). I am sooo glad we still have the same coach for JV, but the other coaches are TOUGH. We mainly practice as a group this year, and the conditioning is intense, their expectations are high, and they yell at us a lot. I would go into more detail but I don’t want to bad mouth them or seem too negative. Basically, it’s a harsher environment than you’d expect.
• Do you practice a lot? I mentioned above how much we practiced last year- 2 days a week for one and a half hours and then we’d get there an hour early before games to run our routines. Last year, we also practiced 3-5 days a week in the summer for 2 hours and we attended a four day cheer camp at UCSB. This year, we are going to practice 3 days a week for two hours and we still arrive an hour early for games. This summer we’ve practiced 3-4 times a week for 2 to 2 and a half hours, but we’ve also had a lot of other events/clinics, etc. We attended another four day cheer camp, but it was the “elite” version of the camp we attended last year, and it was held at Knott’s Berry Farm. Overall during a school week we have cheer 4 days a week, just one of those days is game day. It changes for basketball season because we usually have two games a week and less routines to practice.

I hope you guys enjoyed learning more about my experience as a high school cheerleader and got some possible questions answered! Let me know if you guys have any more questions or would like to know anything else about high school cheer or cheer in general. If this ends up being my last year participating in a high school sport/high school cheer/cheer in general, I want to make the most of it and talk about it as much as I can. Lots of exciting content is coming soon, so stay tuned!

-Brooke

Welcome back everyone!

Today I am going to be giving you some ideas for healthy snacks or lunch items that you can bring to school with you! I know it can be difficult to figure out what to pack in your lunch; you don’t want to have to actually prepare a meal on a time crunch, which often leads to skipping the mealtime altogether. However, we all need to eat and nourish our bodies, so here are some convenient foods you can throw in your bag on your way out the door or quickly prep the night before and go!

• ANY form of granola bar or energy bar – My favorite are the PB&J bars from Trader Joe’s or KIND bars for something more sustainable. These are just by far the easiest thing to grab and eat anywhere; plus, depending on what foods you like and what nutrients you need, you can choose one of the hundreds of types of bars out there. If you’re trying to eat as clean/healthy as possible, I suggest the RXBARS (you can find them at Target) but they’re pretty expensive.
• Peanut butter and crackers – I brought this to school everyday towards the end of last school year, specifically using the multigrain crackers from Trader Joe’s. It’s easy and delicious with the crunch from the crackers and the peanut butter is a good source of protein.
• Peanut butter and apples – Clearly I love peanut butter, but this is another classic. If you also want to bring crackers, you can just bring one of the single peanut butter containers and use it to dip both crackers and apples in. I love apples so this is a no-brainer for me.
• Turkey roll-ups – You definitely need protein to keep you going throughout the day, but if you would prefer to bring “actual” food and not some form of protein bar, here’s another easy solution. I just take slices of turkey, squirt a little bit of mustard in the center, and roll them up.
• Popcorn – I know most people don’t think of popcorn as healthy, but as long as it’s not cheesy/zebra/some other flavor or buttery movie theater popcorn, it actually is! SkinnyPop and the plain/lightly salted Boom Chicka Pop are both delicious and not many calories.

I know these ideas aren’t super unique but I wanted to share them since these are the healthier items that I rotate in my school lunches (most of the other items are on the more sugary side!). I hope this still gave you some inspiration or helped you figure out what food to bring to school with you. Let me know if you want me to make another one of these but with more unique ideas, or if you have any other requests in general. I’ll be back soon with more school related content!

-Brooke

Welcome back everyone!

Today I will be discussing how to find or create a space where you feel comfortable working in and are at your highest levels of productivity. It’s perfect to figure out what works for you before the school year starts and you’re overloaded with homework and tests again, but it’s also always important to know where you work best in general. Keep in mind that different things work for different people, so my suggestions may not be what’s best for you. That being said, keep reading to get one step closer to finding your perfect work zone!

• Lighting can make a huge difference. I personally prefer to work near windows and natural lighting, but I know some people work better in slightly darker environments. Whatever is more comfortable for your eyes and just what you prefer in general is fine- make sure to find a location in your house that accomodates this. Even if you have to rearrange your furniture a bit, it’s worth it. Being able to look out at the sunshine through your window can be sooo much nicer than just looking up to see a blank wall.
• Keep the surfaces minimalistic. Cluttered spaces are usually associated with stress, so try and keep your area streamlined! Try not to let papers and random objects pile up; constantly go through things and organize them into drawers or files out of sight once you’re done with them. You can still have little decor or knicknacks, but I would keep those to a limit as well and try to only have them if they have some other function.
• Have all of your essentials in reach. Even though you want to have a relatively clear space, you also don’t want to constantly be moving around and getting out of your seat to find other supplies you need. Get some form of supply organizer for the top of your desk or better yet, inside a desk drawer and put everything you use on a daily basis there. It will make work so much faster and easier.
• Find a comfortable chair/seating area. This is kind of a no-brainer- we all would prefer to be as comfy as possible when working, right? Find a cushion-y spinny chair (my favorites!) or whatever shape of chair is most comfortable for you personally. It’s just better for your back and posture if you’re in a chair where you can sit up straight without experiencing discomfort.
• Listen to music while working. I know it varies from person to person, but I feel like most people enjoy listening to some form of music while they work. Whether it’s classical music or the latest rap songs (I honestly will listen to both of these genres while doing homework depending on my mood), listen to whatever motivates you. I find that time and work go by so much faster when I’m listening to some good songs.
• Light candles. This is just another ambience factor, but a pleasant aroma in your space makes you feel more relaxed and at peace. Different scents are especially relaxing, like lavendar and eucalyptus. Lighting candles always bring a calm vibe to the room, and it’s just a nice thing to do for your self-care.
• Dust and wipe down your desk/table/etc. often. Along with organization comes actual cleanliness! I know my desk can get super dusty on the top of the hutch, and the actual desktop can get pretty dirty just from all the work and different items that are always on it. Use Clorox wipes and any form of dust rag over the surface to get rid of germs and leave your space clean.
• Make it aesthetically pleasing for yourself. Whether this is making a mini vision board and hanging it up on the wall above your desk, having a color theme for all your supplies and decor, or having a custom desk calendar with your personal pictures, just do something that makes your space stand out to you. This will make it a happier place for you to spend time in, and there will always be something you can glance at that perks you up.
• Try to find a place where you won’t be disturbed by others or outside noise. Another obvious one, but it’s still important. No matter how good the lighting in your living room is, it may not be the best choice for studying if the rest of your family is always sitting there and conversing. Know where the best quiet spots are and try and take one of those and make it into your own. If you have your own room and there’s enough space for a desk and everything, I would recommend that as long as the rest of the environment/lighting is decent.
• Make sure you have ENOUGH space. I’ve talked about all these things you should do with your space, so you need a good amount of room to do it all! In all seriousness, it’s not fun trying to get work done on a cramped little desktop. It’s best if you can spread your stuff out and still have room for organization and a little decor. Obviously you have to consider size within reason, but try and get the biggest surface you can to work on.

I hope these tips gave you an idea of how to create your ideal workspace. A few small tweaks to your environment can make all the difference in your mood while working! No matter what, make sure you take breaks throughout your day. Even if you manage to find a place that you love working in and don’t want to get up, taking a breather to recharge your mental health is very important. Let me know if you guys have any requests for content as always! I have TONS of ideas for new posts so there will be lots of exciting things coming soon.

-Brooke

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

Welcome back everyone!

Today I’m going to share some things you should always have with you in your backpack as a high school student. This can apply to middle school as well, but in my middle school we were not allowed to carry around backpacks. I put a ton of “essentials” in my bag at the beginning of the school year, but I only ended up actively using a few of them. That being said, here are those items that I actually used!

• Chapstick – This is a basic essential if you usually have chapped lips like I do. My choice chapstick is Carmex, but whichever one you use, make sure you have an extra in your bag- especially for the fall and winter months!
• Hairties and mini hairbrush – You’ll definitely need these if you play a sport at school; my hair never looked good by the end of a windy or rainy day, but I could easily use these in a pinch to put my hair up or make it more presentable. It’s also good to have extra in case you need to put your hair up for a science lab or for practice and other people forgot to bring their own.
• Small bills/change for the vending machines – I’m not sure if all schools have vending machines, but I think most do! If you’re craving a certain drink or forgot to pack a snack, it’s always good to have money and get something at the vending machine. Just bring money in general for food/snacks, whether on campus or off.
• Reusable water bottle – Most schools have water fountains around campus or even better, specific stations for water bottle refilling. Bring a reusable water bottle (my favorites are Hydro Flasks) and limit your use of plastic; it’s more convenient in the long run and it will keep your water colder too.
• Stapler (mini) – This will be a lifesaver for you and all your classmates when you have those strict teachers that require your paper be stapled and ready to go as soon as you walk into class. It’s just helpful in general because you’ll be stapling lots of packets/projects/papers throughout the year, and you can’t always rely on your teacher letting you use the stapler in class.
• Phone charger or portable charger – Even if your school has a stricter phone policy, I still found myself using my phone way more on breaks and such during the school day than I did in middle school. At one point or another your phone (or someone else’s!) will need a charge, and some teachers may even let you plug your phones in during class (my bio teacher had a special place for charging phones to hang).
• Paper reinforcers – I’m not sure what the official name for these is, but they’re the little stickers you can place around the holes on lined paper if they get torn. This way, you can still place them in a binder. I just had a few sheets in my bag and you never know when you’ll need them.
• Band-Aids – This may not be an essential for everyone, but I’m pretty accident-prone! Similar to other items on this list, other people may need one at some point too; it’s always a great thing to be the overprepared mom friend who has everything in their bag. If you fall down the stairs, get a scrape while playing sports, etc., you don’t need to rely on the school’s limited first-aid kits.
• Your School ID – I know this may seem obvious, but you wouldn’t believe how many people quickly lose their IDs or leave them at home on a daily basis. Don’t do that!! Your ID can get you free admission to sports games, discounted rates on certain items like the yearbook (usually), and you’ll most likely need it whenever you’re buying school lunch or checking out books in the library. Plus, if you ever get in trouble, admin will expect you to have and present your ID. Just make sure you have it on you at school, even if it’s just wedged in your phone case.
• Snacks and food!! – This is also an obvious one, but it’s SOOOO important. Lots of people forget to bring food and then don’t end up eating, which makes for a lot of cranky teenagers at school. I would suggest bringing more snack-type foods than full-on meals because they’re easier to eat whenever you feel like it (in class, standing up, walking during passing periods, etc.). Bring a mix of healthy/junk food snacks and salty/sweet snacks to cover your bases, and bring enough to share if possible! My whole friend group pretty much swaps our snacks based on our moods and what we feel like eating.

I hope this list helped you guys out and gave you an idea of just how much random stuff you need to be carrying around with you in your bag. You’ll figure out what you personally use once the school year starts, but it’s always best to be as prepared as possible starting out. Let me know if you guys have any school related requests or any requests at all! I’ll be back with more exciting content (including my cheer camp coverage!) very soon.

-Brooke