1. Pay Attention to What Your High School Teachers Have to Say
A lot of high school teachers never seem to know when to stop talking and appear ridiculously out of touch with what life is like outside of the walls of your school, but they can certainly teach you a thing or two. Actually listening to their reminiscent stories or mindless babbling may benefit you. They may teach you where the best place to shop on a budget is, how to solve a conflict in your life, or they may just make you laugh on a bad day.
2. Attend All Of The Last "Whatevers" You Can
The final pep rally, basketball game, or school dance may seem annoyingly hyped up, but I highly suggest attending your "lasts", even if they're not quite your thing. Worst case scenario, the experience is unenjoyable and you complain about it for months on end. Best case scenario, you're left with good, humorous memories to look back on. Either way, you won't have to be worried about being left with "what-ifs."
3. Cherish Having Your Parents Around
Once you're on your own, you'll miss having your parents around to make you a dinner that isn't Easy Mac or to occasionally do your laundry. It's likely you'll even miss them nagging you to clean your room. Without them, your bed is likely to be left unmade for months on end.
4. Take As Many Pictures as You Can
Sometimes people who take endless videos, selfies, and photos are considered annoying, but do it anyways. Looking back, you'll be thankful to have too many memories to laugh at rather than not enough.
5. Say A Lot of Thank-Yous
Sometimes you might feel corny saying thank you to everyone, but you should do that anyways as well. It may be awhile before you get the chance to say thank you to a lot of your peers' faces, so overuse the phrase while you still can. Everyone else will appreciate it too.
6. Clean Out Your Closet
Whether you're living in a dorm or an apartment, it's almost guaranteed your closet in college is much smaller than your closet at home. Obviously, you don't have to take everything with you, but you'll still find yourself helplessly trying to cram all of your favorite outfits into your shoebox--I mean closet. Cleaning out your closet before the summer starts will relieve the pressure later on. If you haven't worn it in a year, get rid of it.
7. Sleep Is Not As Important As The Memories You Could be Making
Sure, rest is important. Even so, you have to be prepared to get little to none of it in college. That being said, never pass up plans because you're tired, and especially not in your final days of being in high school. You'll look back be much more thankful for the funny stories you have to tell rather than the fact that you got 8 hours of sleep.
8. Hang Out With Everyone
In high school, it's not uncommon that people don't branch out past their immediate friend group. I highly suggest that you do exactly the opposite. Hang out with everyone you can. A year from now, you may wish you could catch up with that cool girl from history that you never really talked to outside of class. Instead of feeling like it's too late or it'll be too awkward, hang out with her while you still can.
9. Actually Spend Time With Your Parents
This one seems like a given, but this is one of my biggest regrets. Spend a Saturday night in playing board games or cooking dinner with your family. Just take the time to talk to them. You're going to miss that more than any other aspect of high school, and it feels even worse if it's something you never fully utilized.
10. Take Summer Classes At A Local Community College
Gen Ed requirements suck, but it's possible to get them out of the way. The idea of spending your last summer before college taking classes sounds awful, but in the end it'll save you so much money, time, and stress. The summer classes at community colleges are usually easier than the basic courses at a big university, so it's worth it.
