Open the doors and step into the teeming commons. Welcome to high school! Of course as a freshman from junior high the changes are vast. That’s why as your sophomore companion I am giving you this guidance, it’s up to you to decide whether to disregard it or cherish it, so choose wisely.

My leading bit of guidance is: come to school early. Now this might seem stress-free but trust me misjudge traffic, and you’re late. The first thing to do is find rapid routes to class. Examples are; back stairways, side stairways, and the less packed hallways. If you take the back stairs there is not a three minute delay for each flight of stairs in the north building. The second thing you need to do is get a backpack. Lockers are convenient but very time consuming when you’re having one of those days where; you forget your locker combination, your lockers a disaster area that looks like a category five hurricane blew through it, or if you are already running tardy. A backpack can be an easy simple way to get to your class without that critical one to three minute pit-stop at your locker.

The most significant thing in high school, keep your grades high, so make sure to do your homework because excuses like; my dog ate it, I was busy, and my little brother colored all over it then spilt a bag of jellybeans and soda on it, does not work for high school teachers. If you have difficulties concentrating try doing all your homework in seminar. Ask your seminar teacher for help it is there job to help you and you will be able to finish your homework in seminar with no trouble at all. All junior high teachers panic you into thinking that you will have a mountain of homework every night, but there is little homework to be done in high school. If you start to feel overwhelmed you should stop take a break and remind yourself that you have the night the homework was assigned and the next night to finish it, which means there is not that much homework to be accomplished in one night. Do not strive to be stressed! If you strive to be stressed you will be stressed, and it will take many hours of relaxation to calm yourself back down. I know from a personal experience how much time it takes to be calm. So just take a breather and relax stress is not real unless you make it real.

My final bit of guidance is to stay structured and keep up in your classes. If you fall behind one time it means that you have to plunge through miles in an ocean of homework and notes to catch up. NEVER sleep in class. If you have problems with falling asleep in class you need to go to bed earlier or ask to stand up during class so you won’t fall asleep. Trust me asking a teacher to stand up is better than getting in an enormous amount of trouble for falling asleep in class and can save you the embarrassment haunting you every day after words, from endless joking by your peers. After making sure not to fall asleep in class learn to take better notes. Taking notes is the key skill you must master in high school if you want to keep that A average and survive in college. Many teachers will try to develop your note taking skills and this only works if you strive to learn how to do so correctly. If a teacher hands you notes follow along and pay attention to how the notes are written so you can take the same form of notes in a class were the teacher does not hand you notes to study with. If you feel like all your classes this year are easy then you should have tried harder courses. Most people want to take the easy way out and easily get uninterested in class this would not happen if they would shove themselves that extra step.

It may seem like the end of the world when you take that leap into the ocean of high school but you can survive. Just follow my guidance and learn from it, which means actually trying, listen to Yoda’s famous saying “Do or do not there is no try”. If you can come to school early, learn to keep your grades up, and stay organized you can survive high school.