If you’re lucky, high school will only break you about once a week. Not in a dramatic movie type of way—more like missing the game-winning shot, bombing the test you studied hours for or arriving at school at 7:55, only for the line to be backed up past Lyman Street. Over the past four years, however, I believe students have grown the most during times when success seems unachievable. Chances to improve won’t present themselves right before your face, for they slide in during the least expected moments. For example, when ChatGPT is overloaded and can’t write your senior reflection for you. This is how I have gotten through the recurring battle: one week of school at a time.
High schoolers are inherently lazy. There is nothing more enjoyable than saving all your weekend homework for 9 p.m. on Sunday, or pretending that opening Quizlet for five minutes during passing time is “studying.” I say this because it’s true. Learn to reward yourself AFTER your assignments are in. Work your activities around your studying, instead of vice versa.
Underneath all the laziness, every student goes through a slow and steady grind. A grind that is composed of tiny wins and victories that fuel you every week. It’s those small, invisible triumphs that stack up over time and shape not only how you learn, but how you bounce back from failure. For the underclassman, failure is an opportunity. Often disguised as inconvenience, embarrassment or straight-up disaster, the failures stick with you longer than any easy win ever could. After a failure, effort doesn’t always mean perfection, but it does mean progress.
The best parts of high school aren’t scheduled. They sneak up on you—mid-laugh, mid-failure, mid-chaos. Did I take advantage of them as much as I should have? Certainly not. Hours at my desk prevented a lot of those moments. Time management proved to be one of the hardest parts of high school. Experience the most you can; that’s where the best memories are made. You hold onto that long after the grades fade, the routines change and the deadlines stop mattering. Don’t overlook them.
What really holds this whole chaotic time of your life together isn’t the classes, or the grades, or all the extracurriculars you force into your already loaded schedule—it’s the people. The people who stick around you, no matter the test grade or the scoreboard. The people who don’t only watch you succeed but also will you to triumph. The people who will always have your back during senior assassin.
