Freshmen

To all incoming freshman — I am just going to get right to the point: BALANCE is the key not only to freshman year but to high school.
Focus on grades — they matter! You will thank yourself when you are applying to college and have a good GPA.
Don’t worry if you get one bad grade — it won’t be the end of the world!
Respect upperclassman. We all pay our dues, but hey we aren’t really scary and mean. Sure, if you are walking slow or go through the wrong side of the door we will call you out, but strike up a conversation and we won’t bite.
Have fun! It flies by! So enjoy it a little and take in everything.
After school activities — DO THEM because you will find things you like, new people, and again your senior self will thank you when you have stuff to put on your college application.

Sophomores

Welcome to sophomore year, the easiest year of high school SO ENJOY IT.
Seriously I watched five hours of Netflix every day of sophomore year: it was truly magical. Start a new series. My sophomore year I re-watched all ten seasons of FRIENDS and six seasons of Gossip Girl. This may be your only time to truly binge, so take advantage of it! Be nice to your parents; they still have to drive you everywhere, and this will be the last time you really spend time with them in the car, so really appreciate it. This is the year you start the whole license process. It is an annoying and long process but everyone has to go through it. Start as early as possible. You don’t want to be going into your senior year still without a license.

Juniors

Junior year — we can all agree is the hardest year. The workload gets immensely harder, but you get used to it. It’s okay if you cry. My first junior year breakdown was in October, so you don’t need to wait until March to cry. Time management is super important junior year; you have so much work to do, but you also have to realize some nights you won’t be able to do everything, and that is okay. One bad grade won’t ruin your overall grade. Another big aspect about junior year is prom! It will be fun, but be ready for drama. Who are you going with? Is someone else going to have a similar dress? Who is going to sit at your table? What are you going to do after? These are all questions that will consume conversation. Focus on SATs and ACTs. Take them a few times, and start early! You don’t want to take your first standardized test your senior year because there won’t be much time to raise your scores. It is important to work hard and focus during junior year, but make sure not to not kill yourself about work and grades and try to have fun!

Seniors

The beginning of senior year, honestly, is just a continuation of junior year. I’m sorry to break it to you but better to hear it now. Your workload will still be hard, but at this point you are used to it. Also, you are now beginning the college application process, which is the absolute worst. My advice is to start early! Try and apply early action. I applied all regular decision and it sucked in December when all my friends had heard back and I still hadn’t even applied. Once you get to about March it gets easier. The major difference between senior year and junior year is you are so much more care-free, or you should be! There are a lot of big tasks you will have to tackle, but don’t stress about it. Just chill. Embrace your inner Ferris Bueller: take a day off and just enjoy your last days of being a kid!