When watching How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days I had the genius idea of embracing my inner Andie Anderson and writing my own “How To” piece. After four years of high school at ENHS I feel more than qualified to give my take on what to and not to do academically, socially, and romantically.
Disclaimer: This advice stems from my own personal opinion and experience.
Background on my expertise: I took seven AP Classes, led two school based organizations (Student Council and Newspaper), played for four different Athletic teams at ENHS (Soccer, Bowling, Basketball, and Volleyball), am going to an In-State University with scholarship (UNL), have a stable friend group, and have been in multiple relationships.
Academically
Though it doesn’t always feel like it, the biggest part of high school should be academia, however, my academic advice may differ from that of your counselor and teachers. Cutting right to the chase, here are my biggest pieces of advice for every grade.
For the incoming freshmen, take your first year seriously. It is the easiest way to set up for success since high school grades will inevitably matter. There is nothing more frustrating than looking back and seeing one bad grade in a Spanish or math class is tanking your cumulative GPA.
With that being said, don’t feel pressured to take Honors courses. They move faster than regular, which can sometimes be nice, but there is no “reward” or GPA boost for taking them. AP Classes can still be taken without Honors courses so don’t feel obligated to stay in Honors English, Geometry, Algebra 2, or Pre-Calc if the class is too difficult to follow at the accelerated pace.
Freshman year is a big adjustment period from middle school, but it is also the year where you will most likely have the most free time, so take advantage. Try out all the clubs and sports you want so you can prioritize your real interests as you get busier and busier.
That leads me to my next point: Plan Ahead. If you or your parents have a large interest in joining National Honors Society or applying for the EPS ACHIEVE Scholarship, work to get your 100 volunteer hours early.
To the sophomore class, this is a big year since it is the first year in which students have the opportunity to take one or more AP classes (AP World and AP Stats). WOOHOO! College credit is awesome, right? While college credit and AP Classes are beneficial in many ways, they are undoubtedly difficult.
I think taking AP World my sophomore year prepared me very well for AP classes down the road because it was extremely time-consuming and humbling as someone who rarely had to study prior to that class. To this day, it is probably the hardest AP class I’ve ever taken from a workload standpoint, so every college class after that seemed relatively reasonable.
That being said, AP classes can also sink your unweighted GPA pretty far down if you aren’t ready to work and study at the necessary level. I’m not going to say I was lied to, but I was under the impression that when applying for colleges they’d want to see my weighted GPA (which was much prettier than my unweighted), but that was simply not the case.
To the lovely junior jewels, GOOD LUCK! Just kidding. In all honesty I think the common misconception that junior year is the hardest year of your life is scarier than the year itself. I won’t lie, it can easily become overwhelming and stressful, but it also feels independent and personalized. Junior year is the first year in which you actually have some time to take a lot of electives since many finish up with language, PE, and personal finance sophomore year.
Finding an elective course like art, welding, marketing, choir, band, weights, newspaper, foreign language, or computer science that makes a class feel more like an escape is key to having a good year. That being said, for my overachieving and scholarship-driven folks, this is a good time to take one of those seven AP classes required for the Gold Level ACHIEVE Scholarship. I wish I took either AP Gov or AP Psych my junior year when I had more time so I would have felt less overwhelmed with APs my senior year.
Now, I cannot ignore the elephant in the room that never leaves a junior’s mind: the ACT. At the end of the day the ACT is just a standardized test that is no longer required by many colleges for acceptance, but it can help earn some money and there are ways to improve your score.
I am one of those insufferable people that happen to enjoy and be randomly good at test-taking, so I didn’t take a prep course of any kind but after seeing the thousands of dollars I could have saved next year by scoring one point higher, I regret that decision. It doesn’t have to be a super fancy or expensive sit-down course to be effective. Naviance practice questions and lessons would have helped me on the math and science section greatly.
Also junior year is the most imperative year in the college search. It is low stress since no final decisions have to be made, but it is incredibly important to start brainstorming some schools to tour the summer before your senior year.
And lastly, to the incoming seniors, you’ve made it. One more year and you are home free but try not to get ahead of yourself too early in the year. Despite what you hear, senior year does still count even if you are accepted into a college or committed to play a collegiate sport.
Course-wise, seniors can take a few different paths: Coasting, crying every night, or a happy medium.
Coasting is the highly intriguing path that allows for a fun schedule of study halls, electives, and glorious free time but it can also foster senioritis as it increases the desire to just graduate out of boredom.
Crying every night is the fun path taken by many STEM students or high achieving scholars looking to apply for the…let’s say it again… ACHIEVE scholarship.
A happy medium is what I find to be the most effective way to stay focused throughout the year while also not burning out from being overwhelmed and miserable.
Whatever path you choose, try to enjoy every second of it. The year flies by quicker than you can imagine and no matter how ready you are to be done with high school, the realization of graduation will hit you like a brick.
I went through high school as an overachiever dependent on academic validation. I gave a lot of time and effort into my club, sport, and academic commitments, but all of them felt worthless when many colleges bypassed the involvement section of my application and I wasn’t awarded many scholarships.
In the past few weeks, I’ve had some time to reflect on my high school experience and, ultimately, I don’t regret anything. My year was challenging with four AP Classes, but I am better prepared for college. I gave up a lot of time for newspaper and student council, but I have leadership experience and good friends. I found the sports I like to play and watch while hanging out with some of my best friends.
I don’t recommend choosing your schedule or involvement for the sole purpose of scholarships, parent approval, college admission, or to one-up a classmate. Though those are motivating factors that can keep students focused, you will be more successful participating in things you actually have an interest in. Less can be more when picking extracurricular activities to focus on in high school.
Socially and Romantically
My social life at ENHS might be the thing I am most proud of which might shock anyone in my grade reading this as I am by no means “popular”. I will be walking across the stage at graduation with the same friends that I walked through the door with on the first day of freshman year. Shout out to my Jeweled Kangaroos!
I think the biggest lesson I have to everyone in high school is “Quality over Quantity.” Though it’s overused and corny, it couldn’t be closer to the truth. Find people who are supportive, treat everyone with kindness, respect your boundaries and priorities, and want the best for you.
It can be very easy to feel inferior in high school if you aren’t in the “it” group, but having good friends and fond memories supersede popularity every day of the week. If you feel the need to “fake it” or adjust your standards to fit in with a group of people, that group of people is not for you.
I’m not a guy so I can’t speak for them but I know for girls high school is a hard place to feel confident in. Our bodies are coursing with hormones making us jealous, insecure, moody, angry, emotional, and sometimes mean.
After my many instances with drama and encounters with mean girls, it honestly feels so dumb. I am not trying to belittle the feelings of any underclassmen girls reading this because I was once you, but I can’t even remember what a single fight was about when, at the time, I didn’t want to show up to school the next day.
The easiest way to make friends and memories while avoiding making any enemies is by being nice and involved. Try not to gossip or talk badly about someone because they will always find out, don’t exclude anyone, join clubs, and have a little bit of FOMO (fear of missing out).
Go to all the games, school dances, and pep rallies that you possibly can even when you’re tired or busy. They may be occasionally lame but you only have so many of them and they make for some amazing memories to hold on to.
High school is also a formidable time romantically as it seems to be the time when people start exploring the concept of having a boyfriend or girlfriend or even just coed hang outs in general.
I won’t dive too deep into the benefits and drawbacks of high school relationships since my fellow writer Payton Brummels already did in her piece 4 Years or 4 Life, but I’ve been in a few and I feel quite confident in my advice.
Healthy relationships in early teen years can be quite resourceful as learning opportunities for the future, but toxic ones can have the opposite effect. High school is too short to worry about a significant other all the time, so feel free to date, but if you contemplate even once breaking up…just do it.
Breakups can be distracting, awkward, tense, and lead to the loss of a friend or friend group splits. I’ve had two impactful breakups in the past few years and both caused a dip in my academic performance and months of dodging my friends to be alone.
Friendships are much more important long-term than any relationship will be, and friends will set the standard for how you should be treated better than any boyfriend or girlfriend will. I would’ve saved myself some tears and heartbreak if I had listened to my friends advice and prioritized myself.
