Dear incoming Freshman,
Welcome to where the big boys—and girls—dwell. You have made it through the most awkward part of school and life: middle school. Congratulations! Get ready to either have to best four years of your life or a mediocre four years at LHS.
I am currently a sophomore, and I have been through the “great” transition from middle school to high school, so here is what I have learned. So grab your popcorn, sit back and relax. Let me enlighten you on freshman year.
Let’s start with school supplies. You want a lot of pencils. It will be a miracle if you are about to keep the same one for a whole year. I also challenge you to do so. DO NOT! I REPEAT DO NOT GET BINDERS FOR ALL YOUR CLASSES. Get folders and notebooks for all your classes. You might want to get a couple binders just in case one of your teachers tell you to have one for their class. (Your main goal is to not look like a freshman. Even though upperclassmen can usually tell.)
Another thing, BE ORGANIZED. I know all throughout middle school they stressed (probably a little bit too much) organization. Organize however you want. As long as you can find stuff, it’s organized. You are independent. No teachers are here to hold your hand. Do whatever you want in regards to organizing. Find a way to remember assignments; it can be an app or a physical notebook, but just make sure you have a place.
When packing your backpack, pack snacks. You will thank me and thank yourself for packing snacks. Believe me, you will be hungry throughout the day. It doesn’t matter if your lunch is early, late, mid-day, or not at all: snacks are crucial. BUT, if you are going to pull out a snack in class, make sure you are allowed to. Some classes require that there is no eating or drinking in class while it is just a personal preference of the teacher in other classes.
Do your best.Take it from me and all high schoolers, DO YOUR BEST. If you are doing well you don’t have to worry about every single test or quiz, big project, or assignment that might make or break if you pass of fail. It isn’t fun to try to dig yourself out of a D all year. Unless you like that pressure then by all means do it. Colleges start looking now at your grades now. Then through the years they will see if you have improved or gone down from your freshman year to your senior year. They will see if you did well your freshman year. Save yourself from overstressing and do your best.
When midterms and finals come, study. Just study. Most freshmen learn the hard way of not studying. Semester 1 is an average of 1st quarter (40%), 2nd quarter (40%) and your final exam grade (20%). That exam can make or break your passing or not passing. Just kidding. Kind of. If you have good grades, and you don’t do so well on the finals you will be ok. But if you have bad grades and you bomb the final, then have fun with another freshman year. Seriously study.
Some other advice. Avoid procrastination. We all do it, but try to make it minimal. Stress is your worst enemy. High school is so much more stressful than middle school. To manage all this stress, play sports and join clubs. Turn to good things instead of drugs and alcohol to deal with it.
Bring earbuds. You can listen to music while you work, in between classes, and during your free time. When you are stressed, listening to tunes will make you less stressed and calm you. Just make sure you teacher lets you jam out, because you do not want to spend time in ISS. Also don’t have earbuds in while the teacher is talking. That can get you into some serious trouble.
Finally, be ready to see couples in the hall making out. It’s not gross (to some it is), but I do kinda want to say to them, “Really? Right here? Right now? There is a better place for this.” You will see so many couples throughout the day. There are also those couples that you see in the same place, same time, every single day, and you look forward to passing by them every day. If they are not there it messes with your daily routine.
High School will go quickly, so enjoy it while you’re here.
You have now enlightened with some high school knowledge. Do what you want with this info. Totally disregard it, or use it to its fullest.
Sincerely,
A 2017-2018 Sophomore
