- Join a sport/extracurricular
- High school isn’t fun unless you make it fun. Joining something you can be apart of for all four years here is something a lot of people do. When you’re out of the house, on your own, with a family, you can look back on those memories and tell your kids all about it. Like that time at band camp where the directors sabotaged you into a water balloon fight.
- Do something you wouldn’t normally do
- Have a sleepover on a school night, sneak out, stay up all night watching “Grey’s Anatomy” or “Teen Wolf,” rather than doing your chem homework that is due the next day. Learn from your mistakes. It’s very much okay to do these things, because it gives you experience in something someone else may not, and you can tell them all about it the next day when you’re struggling to keep your eyes open.
- Get a job
- Getting a job is something I personally have always liked doing. Helping others is in my blood. I’ve always enjoyed being around people who have the same interests in career as me, and the pay isn’t too bad, either.
- Set goals
- The more goals you set, the more likely you are to accomplish them. You don’t have to start out as a C-average student and have your goal be to bet a 4.0 GPA. Start out small by saying you will turn in all your assignments on time and strive to get Bs instead of Cs and work up from there. Progress takes time.
- Go to a party
- This doesn’t have to be a party involving alcohol because the legal drinking age is obviously 21, but if you do go to one like this, be responsible, have a designated driver, stay the night, let your friends know where you are so they can come get you if you’re in trouble
- Skip school
- Take a sick day or a day to sleep in and go out to breakfast with your best friends. Now, I’m not saying do this once a week. Do it when you need it. If you’re feeling too stressed to deal with your teacher that does everything for you and lectures for the entire hour and a half block, or that kid that sleeps on your side of the desk in history, take a day off. Sleep in and treat yourself to something you deserve. Get caught up on homework, take a nap with your dog, and binge watch the newest Netflix series you’ve been dying to watch.
- Create a solid group of friends and don’t let them go
- Friends make everything better, but only you pick the right ones. It starts in middle school where everyone is incredibly socially awkward and no one knows how to interact with each other. While in high school, you may go through your first year or two still learning what friends are and which ones to pick. Something I personally have learned is that it’s not about quantity but about quality. For all the marching band kids, just know if you’re ever feeling down, we are the biggest clique in the entire school.
- Eat breakfast
- To start out with something rather healthy. A couple of tips on eating breakfast are: eat when you can, preferably earlier so you don’t crave as many high calorie foods later on. For those trying to lose weight, breakfast, of all meals, is the worst to skip because you get the most protein (muscle builder) from that meal. Also, breakfast is delicious in all forms. You don’t need to have scrambled eggs and pancakes everyday, but tossing a simple breakfast sandwich in the microwave and eating that on your way to school is a great start.
- Pay attention
- All your teachers will tell you they are preparing for college and as much as I didn’t believe this for the longest time, I have finally realized, they really are helping you. Although your GPA and ACT scores aren’t the only thing colleges look at, it still makes it easier to pay attention in your math class the first time rather than paying for a tutor to help you catch up.
- Enjoy yourself
- Class isn’t 100 percent about getting good grades, being silent and only doing what you’re told. It’s about enjoying the class at hand and getting involved in classes that will help you in the future. If you like kids and want to be a teacher, take Child Care Lab for a semester as a junior or senior. If you want to be a doctor or firefighter, take the Fox Valley classes to go off campus and learn and interact with that career. Also enjoy yourself outside of school, go on hikes with your friends, go camping for post prom, and don’t always be so serious. Have a bit of sarcasm in your life.
- Have a plan
- Having a plan can make your life so much more organized and overall better. It helps with getting up in the morning, as well as balancing your schoolwork, and home schedule. Make plans, as well. Take your friends out to breakfast. Get up super early to watch the sunset on your roof or the bridge that crosses over Kirk Road.
- Don’t forget friends and family
- While a lot of teenagers are really focused on school and college, don’t forget about where you came from. Your parents may seem super lame now, but the day you’re leaving for college and you’re arranging your college dorm and meeting your roommates, you’ll wish your parents can stay. Take a few Friday nights off and have dinner with your mom or dad and talk to them about your life, as well as theirs. While now it’s a lot about you and what you’ll be doing later in life, you have a lot to thank them for and although they know you’re thankful for them, it never hurts to let them know that. Outside of your mom, dad, brothers, and sisters, you have a family that you got to choose: your friends. They were your choice and they know you sometimes more than you know yourself. And while you’re all going off to college, and you think it won’t be too hard to leave them, not seeing them at the same time everyday will hurt and you’ll miss them like crazy. So, cherish the time you have with all of them and stay in touch with who you want, because as many friends as you’ll all make, they will always remember their best friends from high school.