By Armita Rohani
Freshman year can make or break your high school experience. The degree to which you get involved in the school matters not only for college, but for yourself as well. The classes you take can make high school seem easy, or the very opposite. Making the most out of high school starts in your freshman year. As a senior who did nothing their freshman year, here are some of the things I wish I knew four years ago.
Plan Your Schedule Out. You only have three more years of high school left, so there are limits to what classes you can take. Knowing what classes you will take before you take them is a huge bonus. When I planned my courses out, I knew exactly how many AP’s, honors classes, and electives I could take, and how much I could expect my workload to be. It sucks to end up as a junior or a senior and realize that this elective you really want to take can’t fit in your schedule or is not even offered in the year. That being said, don’t expect that plan to be concrete. The amount of times I have changed my schedule is insane. I ended up double-scienceing both AP Biology and AP Chemistry, and took an elective that didn’t even exist at the time (Critical Thinking, highly recommended). I took certain classes because they were taught by teachers that I enjoyed being around. I’m challenging AP’s because new opportunities came out. Your schedule plan will change as the years progress, so don’t expect that you’ll follow it to the core.
Get Involved. There are so many, and I mean so many clubs at East, it’s hard not to get involved. From Newspaper Club to Model UN, HOSA to TSA, there’s a club for you. One that matches your interests, and one that you can get involved in. Attend club meetings, go to as many as you can and see if you enjoy it. Don’t get involved in clubs that don’t do anything for you. There’s nothing worse than sitting there for half an hour while someone is talking to you. Make sure there are some hands-on activities that you can do, and set your eyes on leadership positions when the time comes. Actively participating in a club is the best way to get noticed by officers and teachers. It shows that you are involved in your school, and have a life outside academics. As someone who’s applying to college right now, I can confidently tell you that your activities matter. There are hundreds of thousands of other applicants that have the same (or better) grades than you. Get involved, and show others that you have a life outside of your classes.
Go to Events. There are some things that only happen once a year, like homecoming or spirit weeks, so you only have so many of them. Go to a football game, go to a homecoming dance, go watch the bonfire during Taste of East, dress up for spirit days…the list goes on and on. These events are one of the core reasons high school is fun, so don’t center yourself around your classes as an excuse to not attend them. If you’re genuinely busy, that’s understandable, but try to make an effort to show up to some of these. They make highschool memorable, and are a great excuse to hang out with your friends.
