Advice for High School.

To get through high school, the most important thing is to stay focused on your goals. High school is a very stressful and emotional time for lots of teenagers. The stress comes from others and yourself expecting more from you than you’ve ever had to perform before. The emotions come from a need to get along with and connect with your peers and this usually involves making choices that are difficult by staying focused on your goals (i.e. good grades for potential scholarships, extracurricular activities like PHRED, saving money for a car, etc.) you will have a better chance of persevering through the stresses and emotional pressures. Find ways to remind yourself of your goals daily.

                Explore your interests, stay open minded to the various and multitude of opportunities that present themselves. Throughout high school you will meet an even more diverse group of people, I hope. You will also be introduced to new areas of interest that you would have thought of before. Be willing to try new things. Be willing to stretch your comfort zone. As uncomfortable as they may be, coupled with the stresses of your academics you will learn more about yourself and about the life you want to lead if you don’t close yourself off for fear of judgment from your peers. Most of the people you will know in high school you may never see again (except at reunions, if you go), so remembering that you are developing who you want to be versus who you want to please can help minimize the anxieties you may experience during your high school years.

                High school presents a time in your life where you will be expanding your independence, practicing the art of effective decision making, and learning the skills you will need to effectively manage and excel in your life. If you can do so without compromising your grades, you should try to find a part time job. Not only will you learn and understand a good work ethic making your own money offers some freedom of choice you have never experienced before. Use all of this to advance your wisdom and to learn to trust yourself.

School in a Perfect World.

          In a perfect world my school would take less time in a day. I support that I need the education to help me get through college and get a job. However, I think that the teachers would spend less time talking and more time teaching what needs to be taught and leave all the reading, social obligations (student wise), and lectures for after school. For the extra learning if the student wants to know more I think that the student can learn it online. I think that if the student excels in a specific topic that student should be allowed to take the homework and go, stay in class to finish the work, or get the homework and do it online.

          I would take out the grading system that is shown on the papers, if the parents want to know what their child’s grade is the school can put it on a website or a program like pinnacle for the parent to view. I would take away the grading system because it puts some of the students down. It makes them feel bad and makes them think that they are either hated by the teacher or stupid, even though that student may have done his/her best to get all of the answers right. I think that instead of a grade the school could have the teachers talk with the students who have a low score so that the students can try to fix their mistakes.

          Curriculum flexibility would be a good thing to change. If a student is wildly excelling in a certain subject the school could have the student take a more advanced class for that subject. The school can give the student who is more advanced in a subject a period for the student to take virtual classes for high school, or college if that student is smart enough, and gain credits for the school the student is going into. If the student has enough credits to graduate and knows everything he or she needs to know to graduate then that student should be allowed to graduate. These are the changes I would make for a school in a perfect world, if we had to have school.

I believe I can do my best.

          I believe I can do my best when playing baseball after I get my boot off.I hope that I will be able to do everything I used to be able to do before I hurt my arm and "fractured" my ankle. I love baseball and I would do almost anything to play again. Sometimes I get really jealous of my teammates because they are able to practice and play on the field during games. It really irritates me that all I am able to do during a game and practice is sit on the bench and count pitches thrown by my teammates. I get to the point where I cannot understand why my coach has me come to practices and games when all I do is sit and encourage. I would really like to be the best to my ability when I get back to practicing and playing in games because I know that it matters a lot to my team that I get better and start to play in games and get back to my former capabilities.

          I also believe I can do my best when I am playing video games. I believe this because I learn how to use the controls and instructions of the games I download or pay for very quickly. I can remember them if I play the game frequently enough too. To be honest I like video games over sports because there is absolutely no chance of someone hurting you or possibly causing your death. Video games can't do that so that is why I focus on them more. I am not saying I do bad in sports because I work equally as hard in sports, if not harder.

          I believe I can do my best in school because all you need to do is work hard enough to get good grades. I try to accomplish this as much as I can during school, but after school I completely give up learning until school starts the next year. Sometimes I get mad at myself if I get a B or a C, but my parents say it is no problem, just apply myself more. I do try to apply myself as hard as I can though and when I get an F my parents freak out and my mom starts yelling at me. She then calms down and tells me to get the grade up so I do exactly that. My parents are the best source of help when it comes to my school work and that is one reason why I love them and why my grades are so good.