Hi, your friendly neighborhood senior here to give you some advice. I’ve been around the block, scoured every hall, memorized every nook and cranny, and learned all I can, and here I am to share it with you.
Lets start with the not-too-distant future: applying for college.
Keep track of what you do, a running record of classes you’ve taken, clubs you’ve been in, awards you’ve been given, and places you’ve volunteered. This list will become your best friend when you are filling out endless streams of paperwork to get into college.
Take school seriously, it may make the difference between a $2,000 scholarship and a $20,000 scholarship. “Oh, I’ll just apply for a bunch of written scholarships to pay for school.” Good luck. You would really be surprised at how much money schools themselves offer for good grades, and these are not too hard to get; some schools don’t even require more than your admissions essays for them.
AP classes are your friend. They are a relatively cheaper way to get college credit, and the classes are far more personal then your college Gen Ed classes. Study for your AP tests, and save yourself some cash.
Take classes you love. Sure, your parents want you to take AP Chem, AP Bio, AP Cal, AP Physics, and AP Spanish all in one year, but that doesn’t leave space for the classes you love. Take an art class, a drama class, and design class—whatever makes you happy—and stick with it. Everyone needs some down time, and these classes can be yours.
Junior year may just be the best year of your life: don’t waste it. You get the freedom of driving without the worry of college looming over you. Be carefree, don’t take yourself too seriously, and just keep pushing through it.
To those that worry over what others think of you, it gets better. Find yourself, and don’t let anyone else tell you any differently. Afterall, it’s just high school, a brief blip in your long life. Sure, we’ll all look back at it and grimace at our old pictures, wonder what exactly we were thinking, but what does that matter in the grand scheme of things? My final piece of advice is to enjoy yourself, because this—believe it or not—is the easiest time of our lives.
Best of luck,
A Senior.
