By Simone Midgett, Editor-In-Chief
The fond memories I have of freshman year: spending entirely too much time doing my hair and putting on makeup just to sit in class, being too scared to chant in the student section, thinking about the one time I tripped going up the stairs, and getting a squeamish feeling anytime upperclassmen looked at me.
Take it from me, you spend the majority of your freshman year worrying about the things that don’t matter and not worrying about the things that do. If you think upperclassmen hate you just because you are a freshman, I am here to tell you they don’t.
I promise, no one is thinking about how you tripped up the stairs two weeks ago, so do not stress about that.
Believe it or not, ninth grade is a crucial year to the college planning process. It sets up your GPA for the rest of high school and, trust me, it is aggravatingly hard to raise it anymore after that. This is what you should spend your time worrying about.
Don’t be like me – and the majority of high schoolers – spending your freshman and sophomore years settling for decent grades only to realize your junior year is going to be filled with an array of AP courses as you hope for a miracle.
It is not fun making a list of your top colleges only to look at Prep Scholar and have your dreams crushed, but if you start taking your classes seriously now, this is something that can be avoided. Don’t settle for mediocre grades. Push yourself, because in the end, it will pay off when you excelled instead of just got by.
But most importantly, spend your time making the most of your last four years as a kid.
Go to every school dance, join in as the whole school shouts Coach Prince’s famous “I Am Somebody” speech, go see the school play, participate in spirit days – even if you think it’s “uncool.”
Most importantly, cherish the people you grew up with because they have been there for everything.
Don’t wish for high school to go by faster and don’t constantly find yourself saying you can’t wait to leave this tiny peninsula we call home. I did that all of high school and now here I am: I have one year left to wish I never wished my time here would go by faster.
When people tell you that it will feel like you blinked and high school is over, they mean it.
Senior Simone Midgett can be reached at [email protected].
