The Avon Echo

by Salem Araya

Some say that high school is the start of your life, when you change from an awkward middle schooler to a responsible adult. High school can either be a regrettable four years of misery or the time of your life. It’s a stepping stone for the rest of your adult career and lucky for you, The Avon Echo has a guide on How to: Survive High school.

1. Getting Involved Might Save Your Life

Getting involved in this gigantic school might actually save your life. In a school with over 3,000 students, it can be hard to connect and make friends. Joining clubs and doing extracurricular activities can make the school so much smaller and connects you with people you may have never met if it wasn’t for those clubs. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean you should join a club that takes up a lot of time. You should find a club that aligns with your interests and your schedule. Clubs like Book Club and Take a Hike are not as heavy and time-consuming as Speech & Debate or DECA. Which means you can still join a club without devoting a lot of time or effort to it. Plus, you can put it on your college resume! It’s basically a win-win. Colleges love to see that your involved with your school, and you make new friends.

2. The Whole World Doesn’t Need to Be Your Friend

Making friends is a part of life and even though #1 says to make friends, it shouldn’t be your life mission. It might not seem like it now, but it is so easy to get caught up in drama that you shouldn’t even be in in the first place. Keeping your friend group small is one way to keep yourself out of unnecessary drama. Of course, you should still be nice with everyone and make friends in class, but be wary of who you let in your inner circle. Sometimes the people who you think are your friends never actually cared about you in the first place.

3. Do Your Work!

This sentence is so overused, but it’s true-do your work! Don’t procrastinate on your homework or whatever it is that needs to be done. An assignment could be due next Friday, and between then you’ve done so many other things, that you’ve forgotten that 20-point assignment is due in three periods. It’s better to just get everything done in class or do it as soon as you get home. Because when it’s four pm and that midday slump hits, there’s no way you’re going to wake up to do your English homework. This sounds like advice a teacher or administrator would say, but it’s because they’re not lying. Freshman year is your most important year, and if you end it with a low GPA, it’s going to be a struggle to get it back up your next four years. So, save yourself the struggle and just finish your homework.

4. We Only Have 6 Minutes, Walk!

Avon High School is a school of more than 3,000 students and staff. There is only six minutes to get from one side of the school to another. If you do not walk fast enough, you will get pushed, shoved, or even run over. If you want to talk to your friends, that’s fine, but you better be walking and talking. Your first priority might be finding out how your friend got her braces off, but the person behind you is trying not to get a detention. Trust, in three years you’ll be complaining about people not walking fast enough too.

5. It’s Not That Deep

Although the next four years are very important, it’s also important to breathe. You will very quickly become overwhelmed and burnt out if you do not pace yourself. If you burn yourself out so early into your high school career, it’s going to take a lot to get your mojo back. So, make sure there is a balance between your classes. Challenge yourself and take harder classes, but make sure you also take fun electives. In the future you’ll start taking AP classes, and college-level courses that take a lot of time out of your day. Enjoy the time you have now and take classes that peak your interest or electives that have a low workload. It’s very easy to get buried under tons of work and forget that you are also human and not Superman.

6. “Being Yourself” is a Cliché

Everybody always says to “be yourself”, do what you want to do, don’t listen to others, but let’s be honest. That’s a lie. It is impossible to be your self, when you’re fresh out of middle school and pushed into a gigantic school. It’s easy to lose track of your self, when your surrounded by so many people. Often people adopt a pack mentality, meaning that they try to assimilate into the greater group to make themselves smaller. So, instead of trying to “be yourself” just try to stay true to your values. Because at the end of the day, that’s what makes you different.

From this point on, anything you do or say, is being watched. Whether by your peers or the adults in your life. This time goes by fast, so enjoy it while you can. Go to football games with your friends, make the best out of your classes, and find yourself. High school is like a rollercoaster ride, you never know what will happen next, so try to keep true to yourself in spite of it all. “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter.” ― Dr. Seuss