1. Know Your Route.
We'll start with the basics. It's a new
school, new teachers, and loads of new faces. You may be able to
point out your classes on your marked up map, but it's a whole new
world when you find yourself standing in that hallway, being pulled
along with the frantic current of students who are either trying to
find their class in time, or are getting annoyed with all the newbies
that are stopping every ten feet to glance down at their map.
I would HIGHLY suggest you take your
daughter on a walk through those halls while they're still empty and
calm. Start at her locker and walk your way to each class. If the
labyrinth gets a little too confusing, return to her locker and plot
the best route from there, as it'll be her pit stop between classes.
If your daughter isn't interested in letting her mommy hold her hand
and show her around, have her round up a group of friends and drop
them off at the school so they can figure it out together! Equally as
helpful and even more fun!
There is nothing worse than being tardy
to nearly every class on the first day. Venturing through a maze
packed with people to find a new classroom eight times a day can be
overwhelming, embarrassing, and frustrating, coloring her new school
in a negative shade.
2. Be Prepared to Introduce Yourself
a Billion Times.
I'm not just
talking about the easy, “Hi, my name is Storm.” I'm talking about
the horrible, awful, get-to-know-each other, activities that every
teacher ensues on the first couple of days. Even on my senior year of
high school, after we were all seated in our desks surrounded by
friends and enemies, the teacher would announce that we were doing an
activity to get to know each other. In my mind, what they were really
saying was this:
“Listen up,
brats. I didn't want to end my summer vacation to wake up early every
day and endure this hell hole anymore than you did, so I have nothing
prepared. Talk about yourselves with your neighbor while I finish the
last chapter of 50 Shades of Gray and
spend the final hour texting my girlfriends about how boring our sex
lives are.”
Seriously.
In case you
don't remember from middle school, these activities consist of
mumbling your name, sharing an interesting fact about yourself,
listing off 3 hobbies, or sharing a summer experience. Some have even
resorted to making each student stand up and go through the motions
for the whole class to hear. I didn't expect this routine to continue
in high school, so I was completely unprepared and I panicked when
faced with the nerve-wracking challenge of announcing who I was as a
human being to a classroom of two dozen judge-mental teens that were
more interesting than me. It would go a little something like this:
“I'm Jimmy and
I race stallions through fields of fire in my spare time.”
“My name is
Susie and I ate at every authentic restaurant in Europe with Johnny
Depp over the summer.”
“My name is
Storm and . . . . I . . . I can breathe really well through my nose.”
Right? How
humiliating. Be prepared with some fun facts about yourself or an
interesting experience you had over the summer so you're not drawing
a blank when it's your turn to convince everyone else that you're a
cool person they want to be friends with.
3. The Counselors are Your Friends!
It's important
to know that the student counselors are there for YOU. It's their
job, and I've found that most of them are very helpful. I wish I
would have known sooner that I could address nearly every problem
with a counselor, because it would have saved me a lot of stress. If
you're struggling in a class, if you're having a problem with a
bully, if you're feeling overwhelmed, the counselors are there to
help you. Not only can they aid with the emotional strife of high
school, but they're also a gigantic help in planning your life after
graduation. My counselor was able to pull up my transcripts and print
out a list of recommended colleges, scholarships, and grants that I
would be able to apply for. It's never too early to start seeking
scholarships!
If you find
yourself with a moody, unhelpful counselor, explain the problem to
the front desk and ask if you can be assigned to a new one!
4. Just Like a Snake.
Let's face it.
You're young. Your interests and your opinions are constantly
changing. You're hormonal. You're insecure. You're trying to figure
yourself out. The thought of stepping into an unfamiliar building
crammed with dozens of peers can be pretty scary or nerve-wracking.
Will they like you? You're not even sure if you like you. Are you too
dressed up for the first day? Are you too casual?The most important thing to remember as you embark on the journey through high school is that everyone else around you is thinking the exact same thing. Just like a snake, they're more afraid of you than you are of them! There's no need to be shy. No need to wonder if your jeans are too flashy. Most of the people that you think are judging you, don't even notice you. They're too consumed with praying they don't trip as they walk past you in the hall.
You're surrounded by countless kids your age. Introduce yourself! Strike up conversations! Nobody is going to think you're weird for doing so; they'll just be relieved that someone thinks they're cool enough to talk to! Make friends! With a school packed with people, there are bound to be at least a bus full of others that share your interests and hobbies and once you graduate, you'll find that it's a lot harder to make new friends.
5. A Little Sucking Up Goes a Very
Long Way.
As you conquer
the first few weeks of high school, you're going to learn a lot about
your teachers. You'll discover their teaching methods, their pet
peeves, their likes, their dislikes. During my first year of high
school, I paid little to no attention to my teachers' mentalities.
What did I care? I didn't even want to be there in that dreadful math
class. I was just waiting for the bell to set me free. As I struggled
to obtain the grades that I so easily earned in middle school, I
learned one very important lesson about the teachers in high school:
they care about your grade only as much as you do. No more, no
less. One day, I remember a group of us making fun of a friend for
being such a suck up to his teachers. His shameless reply was, “My
teachers love me and I get better grades than any of you, just for
taking the time to get to know them and treat them with respect.”
None of us could
rebuke. He had an excellent point. I'm not advising you to agree with
everything your teacher says, to be the first one to class and the
last one to leave. Just take the time to get to know them and act
accordingly. Show them the respect that they deserve. Show them that
you CARE about your grade by staying after class to discuss an
assignment or asking for extra credit. I promise you, if you show
your teacher how much you care about your education, they are going
to put in the effort to help you as much as possible. A little
sucking up never hurt anyone.
6. Prepare For Battle.
I regret to
inform you that there are dangers that you must prepare for. Dangers
in your school that you cannot avoid. It's disconcerting, the thought
of what lurks in the deepest corners of the halls. Perhaps you would
rather ignore the possibility. Perhaps you think that it won't happen
to you. You are wrong. There are those that seek to destroy, and you
must stand strong against their thirst for doom. No matter what crowd
you slip into, no matter how you behave, there is a 99% chance that
you will have to face the monster in the shadows. And there's a
99.99% that the beast has taken the form of a teenage girl.
Are you scared
yet? You shouldn't be, silly! A spoiled brat with daddy issues is
nothing you can't handle! Mean Girls in not just a hilarious movie,
people. Mean girls are very real and there are at least a handful of
them in every school.
I would have to
say that if you learn anything from this blog, you learn about how to
handle the malicious, deceitful girls at your school. They may be
young, but an encounter with a pack of these vicious beasts can
really harm your self-esteem and your daily life at your home away
from home. Read up. Study them. Understand the enemy with my guide, A
Word on Mean Girls. Once you've learned about the monsters, learn
the art of taming them with my instructional post on Taming
the Girl Pack.
7. Take Advantage!
I'll be honest,
I regret how I spent my time in high school. I did not have a good
time. After years of mastering the craft of taming Mean Girls and
moving onto high school, I was so over the monotonous scene. I hated
being there. I hated my classes. I graduated early so I wouldn't have
to engage in the motions any longer. And I regret it.
In a school full
of people, surrounded by opportunities to make friends and learn new
skills, I took advantage of nothing! You're only in high school for a
few years before you're kicked to the sad, dirty curb of adulthood.
Embrace it!!! Join clubs and sports teams. Take a variety of
different classes to broaden your horizons and discover new
interests. Go to school activities like dances and sports games! High
school can be a long, boring, hellish nightmare, OR it can be a wild,
exciting, super fun party! It's up to you to make your experience a
great one. Since you're trapped there for years to come, you may as
well enjoy it, right?
8. Have Faith in Time.
For some, the
adolescent years spent in high school can be harder than they are for
others. It's a stressful time. As if your grades weren't enough to
worry about, you need to start planning for your future. With the
burden of securing your education, you're going to be dealing with
mean girls, boys, relationships, friendships, social events, and
whatever may be happening in your life outside of school. There's a
lot on a teen's plate and you have every right to feel overwhelmed or
maybe even hopeless.
Please, have
faith in the power of time. The inevitable, constant, secure pulse of
each second. Keep moving. Even when it seems that you have nothing
left to give, when you think you can't take another step, pick up
your foot, move it forward, and place it on the ground. Roll with the
punches. Even if you're feeling the worst you've ever felt, whether
it's about a break-up, a crumbling friendship, mean girls, your home
life, or your grades, you just keep on going. Take each day one at a
time, and one morning, you'll wake up to the sun streaming in and
vanquishing the night. As you lay there, you will realize that
the trials have passed. The drama will be over. And you will get out
of bed, and you will take the next step.
If you have
faith in nothing, have faith in the power of time and the strength it
has to pull you along when you can no longer continue by your own
will. These things will pass. I swear on my life.
Who am I to make
such a promise? I have no idea what you're going through or what
challenges you will face. No, but I can still promise with absolute
confidence that any dreary point in your life will fall behind as the
minutes push you forward. I have been severely bullied, heartbroken,
married, and divorced. I have experienced the death of peers. I have
lived in distress at home. I have kept moving. And I am so
happy.
High school is what you make it! Know your way around, earn good grades, and fend off the mean girls hiding in the bushes! You're going to be just fine! I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope you find some use of it on your first day of school! Thanks for reading! Good luck!
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