By Ryan Manesh

Coming towards the beginning of my senior year and the end of my high school experience, I have had time to reflect on the many things I have learned and wish I knew when I was younger. My high school experience, like that of many, has been an emotional rollercoaster. I have had countless good and bad times, memories I wish I could forget and some I wish I could relive every day. Throughout all these experiences, here are some tips and tricks I have learned:

1. Sleep is essential. I, like most people, have a bad habit of pushing things to the last minute. I have had many nights where I am torn between studying for an extra hour or getting an extra hour of sleep. After trying both, I highly recommend the extra hour of sleep. I have seen many peers perform worse on tests due to sleep deprivation. The later you sleep, the less information you retain from studying. It is very important to prioritize your own mental and physical health over an assignment or test.

2. Get to know people. Establishing connections or friendships is crucial to your high school experience. Freshman year is the best time to set up the groundwork for meeting people because people come from many different schools and most people are open to meeting others. Freshman year is also the time when many people come in with blank slates, so it’s a good idea to try to meet people without outside opinions clouding your perception of them.

3. Not everyone’s going to be as nice as you want them to be, and that’s fine. You’re not going to be friends with everyone, and that’s completely normal. It is much more important to focus on yourself without caring about what others think of you.

4. Find a group of friends who make you happy. It is important to find a group of friends who offer you a balance of friendship and fun, while also offering support and help both academically and mentally. A good group of friends can completely change your confidence and the way you view yourself, which is exceedingly important due to how much teenagers’ perceptions of themselves change throughout their lives. Having a close group of friends offers you an extra backbone to rely on.

5. Try not to run to class. The only thing that can distinguish someone as a freshman more is neon yellow Nike Elite clothing. If you’re going to be tardy, just take the tardy; the embarrassment of running from the freshman quad to the science building is not worth it.

In the end, it’s important to remember that your high school life will be filled with lots of highs and lots of lows, and even though at times it seems overwhelming, it’s completely possible to get through it by focusing on the right things.

—Manesh, a senior, is a Sports Editor