The Ten Things I Wish I Knew in High School

When I was in middle school and even elementary school, I dreamed of the day where I would be a high schooler. In my mind, when a person gets to high school, they automatically get more beautiful, more-care-free, and everyone gets along (Shoutout to High School Musical for clouding my mind with that facade; damn you Zac Efron and your perfection). So, to the surprise of no one, when I stood at the end of the driveway waiting for the bus on my first day of freshman year, I was rather disappointed to see that I still had braces on my teeth and already a lot of stress about schoolwork. I suddenly felt like I was getting myself into something much worse than anything I'd imagined. What I eventually discovered was that while it's high school, and it sucks, it's also high school, and it's awesome. 

1. Reinvention is a lie. As much as we wish there was, there is no magic high school potion that gets kids out of the awkward middle school phase. For many people, they are just about to hit their awkward phase. You may not even realize that you are in your awkward phase. Do not "remake yourself"; anyone who reinvents their image for the sake of not being awkward only ends up making it worse. Please do not die your hair pink unless you actually like pink hair; its not worth the attention. The attention you receive is only negative, no matter how many times your best reassures you that this shows how "unique" it makes you. If you do change, this change is gradual and steady. On a side note, especially avoid reinventing yourself to be a hipster. Speaking from personal experience, do not wake up one day thinking that you can suddenly rock square-frame glasses and recite slam poetry in the lounge. True-blue hipsters do not and cannot exist in New Canaan. Sorry Nick Zanca, you aren't hipster if you live in a million-dollar home and drive a land rover.  
2. You actually need to work hard from day 1. As in day 1 of kindergarten. Like your personal image, you cannot reinvent your intelligence when you walk through the doors of high school. Your ivy-league dreams aren't going to happen if you are in all regular classes your freshman year, no matter how many APs you end up taking later or how many generations of your family have gone to that school. And if you get D's first semester freshman year, you are doomed to have to work doubly as hard to get that GPA up to something socially acceptable. Regardless of how much you "get your act together" after you majorly fall, just be prepared to know that you are already one lap behind everyone you want to be competing with. 
3. Take everyone's reviews of teachers with a grain of salt. I went into classes with pre-conceived notions, an that always ended up biting me in the butt. I was told that I would have the time of my life with Mr. Webb in APUSH and that Mrs. Brown would make my life miserable. It ended up that these views had some bias to them. Webb may love you only if (I really mean ONLY if) you are a star participant, constantly raising their hand. Although I am an avid participant in class, APUSH absolutely terrified me because I hate raising my hand only to have the wrong answer. Everyone else in my grade (except Jack O'Rourke, of course, who Mr. Webb once called "dreamy" in another class) felt the same way. We didn't participate, he ended up hating us. Mrs. Brown, on the other hand, may only give you a good grade if you write very liberal, "pour-you-soul-out" narratives, but hey, at least she cared. She once came up to me after grading a paper and gave me a hug because she was so excited about the things I wrote. Mind you, I wrote that paper at one o'clock in the morning after binge watching How I Met Your Mother. Everyone is different; you will have a unique experience with every teacher. 
4. It's only worth going to 2-3 football games in your high school career. Apologies to future football captain Jim Keneally for this piece of advice, but it's quite true. Everyone is drunk, someone gets their stomach pumped, the Rams crush the other team, or somehow always win. Repeat for the rest of the season. School spirit is nice, but if you need to be of half-brain-function to have school spirit, then there really isn't any spirit at all. Only if the game is important do you go. This counts for all activities: if it's and important game to the team or to your friends on the team than you go. THIS ALSO GOES FOR THEATRE. Go to the shows if its the winter show or if your friends have a big part. Don't lose the game of "I'm quizzing you to see if you went to the show". 
5. Work hard now, play hard later We all end up going to a party at some point in high school. My advice for you is to wait until at least sophomore year. Put yourself in good academic standing and a good work habit before you add partying into the mix. Learning to work while hungover takes some already well-established work skills. But you need to learn how to do it. Please go out and have fun; there is no need to stay home every weekend. Have some drinking experience before college, before you get to the big leagues in college. 
6. Get your drivers license as soon as possible. The bus used to be cool when you were in missile school because that's where all of your friends were. But in high school, taking the bus is a sign of either being an underclassmen or a (for a lack of a better word) loser. Plus, Giovanni is an absolute gem of a teacher. I honestly looked forward to Wally and the ghetto cushion (inside jokes of driving school... oh wait you haven't gone to driving school? Ohhhhh then you wouldn't get it...). Just go, get the classes, done, start driving. The more experience you have the better. 
7. Avoid Helen. She is not a person whose reviews you should take with a grain of salt. Helen and her traffic minions are out to get you. If you want to go off campus but you don't have a pass, do not go if Helen is there. Even if you borrow and off-campus pass, she WILL ask you show her both sides of that pass. And believe me, she doesn't take too kindly to pulling a fast one. She will march you down to the principal's office in her sparkly jeans and lunchbox as fast as her nurse shoes can carry her. Her minions are slightly better; if you get turtle you are essentially getting Helen and the other two don't care. In fact, I don't even know what the other two's voices sound like; that's how little they care. 
8. Do not ask your parents to help write your college essay. Unless your parents are English teachers or were English majors in college, I promise you the Englsih teachers at school can help you much more than your parents. English teachers know how to help veering writing styles; parents do not. If you write like F. Scott Fitzgerald and your father writes like Ernest Hemingway, then coming up with a compromise will only result in loud arguments. The college process is painful enough; if you have the English department and you guidance counselor behind your essays, there will be no need for your parents to intervene. 
9. Being a second semester senior actually means nothing. I'm sorry, being a "cool and relaxed second semester senior" is a myth until after AP exams. Unless you applied to a school Early Decision, third quarter matters because you might get wait listed at your top choice. And plus, you may be burned out by the time May rolls around, but if you want to get out of those General Distribution requirements in college (and believe me, you do) then putting effort into studying for those APs could mean the difference between fulfilling and not fulfilling distribution requirements. Just put effort in. It sucks, but its that whole long-term-payoff concept. Do it, and you'll thank yourself later. 
10. Don't sweat the small stuff, kid.  I am a pretty panicky person. Test scores below a C automatically induce tears, I can literally worry myself sick, and above all, I am a perfectionist. However, being a perfectionist in high school is nearly impossible; there are so many things that can't and won't go the way you envisioned. But you can't let a little slip-up or one bad test drown out your confidence. Study harder, go in for extra help, say you're sorry, whatever it takes. When you make a mistake, it takes time to clean up the collateral damage, but by doing so, you and the people around you are built up to be stronger and better. I came in my freshman year of high school thinking that I was going to University of Michigan to become a Broadway performer. Four years later, I am on my way to Georgetown to study business. Things take a different course, not by your own doing but by the doing of any and all situation you find yourself in in high school. It'll be okay. Believe me, it all turns out okay in the end. And that's all that really matters. If I knew that as a junior, or even as a first semester senior, I probably wouldn't have had as many tears shed or as much hair fall out. But now that I know, I am ready to take on whatever the future holds for me.