Seniors are amazing role models who underclassmen can look up to. Upperclassmen have gone through most of their high school career and have learned many things. These students have been in your shoes at least once and have some advice to help the underclassmen coast through their high school education, (hopefully) more smoothly.
If you are struggling in high school, it doesn’t hurt to reach out to a good, smart senior who you know and trust to get their advice or opinion. It’s always okay to ask for help. Remember, high school isn’t meant to be easy. It is to prepare kids for the real world. The real world is unforgiving and brutal, but, just like in the real world, you can always ask questions.
“When you talk to people that, especially those that are older than you, you can learn a lot quicker, and you can expect things easier,” senior Caden Pendleton said.
High school is a stressful environment for every student. While stress can be helpful, it can also be detrimental to a student’s mental health. New high school students can get caught off guard with the workload and forget about those most important to them.
Senior Anna Berney’s advice – “Don’t take everything so seriously.”
Being a student is hard when everyone is telling you that your grades in high school are going to decide the rest of your life for you. Realistically, the relationships you make are probably going to have more connections ininto your future. While grades and school are important, they aren’t a single deciding factor, and worrying about them constantly can negatively affect your mental health, and, eventually, even your physical health.
In a study done by Behavioral Health, the researchers explain that unhealthy stress can affect teens in the worst ways possible. The authors of the study write, “Teens could experience: Anxiety. Depression. Social withdrawal and isolation. Low self-esteem. Insecurity. Substance abuse.”
It is important to have a strong support system so that the workload can feel a little easier to carry. The goal is for kids to be able to properly manage all of the chaos going on in their lives. Knowing limits, and not worrying about grades all the time is important.
Kids are practically slapped in the face with stacks of schoolwork, family, friends, activities, and so much more. Students can feel overwhelmed with what they are expected to do. With the standard as high as it is for students, pressure can feel like it is cutting off all support and drowning out all happiness.
“ I would say not to care as much about your grades and to get, like, not get overwhelmed with everything. ‘Cause it’s not that big a deal,” senior Madison Burns said.
Overwhelming pressure placed on anyone’s shoulders never turns out how someone wants it to. Especially when that someone is put in an unfamiliar environment, and thrown into a new and scary social situation. Especially being a freshman with everything thrown your way at once, it can be easy to forget about the people around you and get caught up in the stress and anxiety of everyday life. Even though it can be hard trying to find time just for yourself or with those who mean the most to you, it is important to do so.
Something that kids should keep in mind is that relationships with people around you is so much more important than anything you will ever learn in a classroom. Friendships that you form have the potential to follow you for the rest of your life, but a failed math test will be forgotten. Friends are also great confidantes for when you are struggling the most.
“I would say to not worry too much and just talk to people and make connections,.” Pendleton said.
Something that all these seniors had in common is that they all thought their senior year was going by fast. Even though the days pass incredibly slowly, high school seems to blow right past you.
“Enjoy everything while it lasts,” senior Alex Hallgren said. “Don’t take any time for granted. And just, like, put your all into everything because, realistically, it’s not going to last too long.”
Looking up to a senior that you trust can be beneficial because they will be honest about their high school experience, and tell you what goes on in high school and how you need to be prepared for it. All you have to do is ask, and they will most likely be more than willing to help because they were once in your shoes.
“We’re all just, you know, one big community,” Berney said.
