Here are some small pieces of advice about freshman year of high school from people who have already survived it.
1. Don't stress about what other people think of you, because odds are they have so much going on they are too busy to judge you.
2. If you aren't allowed to go off campus for lunch avoid the places that teachers eat at.
3. Get required classes out of the way (PE, Health, PCC, etc.) it'll be better in the long run.
4. When you have older friends remember, you're still a freshman, so don't be demanding.
5. Have school spirit! School is way more fun when you embrace it and support your teams. Dress up for dress up days, wear crazy outfits to match the game themes, and be funny in the school music video. You may feel awkward doing it, but you won't be alone, tons of other people are being silly too.
6. Go to games. Football, basketball, soccer, whatever you're interested in. Even if you don't like sports get a group of friends together and go hang out with people and get concessions.
7. When you go to games sit in the student section. You're neither too cool for it nor not cool enough for it.
8. Don't be too cool to have fun. That's called boring and well, that's boring.
9. PAY ATTENTION IN CLASS. The first few weeks you might think you're fine just skimming, but once you get near finals you will regret not paying attention.
10. Pick classes carefully. You want fun classes to look forward to, but also challenging classes. Take advantage of the cheap classes and try to advance your education.
11. Pick your friends carefully (you can still reach out to people and hang out with all types of people) just remember that people will assume things about your personality based on the personality of those you choose to spend your time with.
12. Popularity is all relative. Never feel like you can't talk to someone because they are "too popular". The only reason most people are popular is because you look up to them and so does everyone else thus making them "untouchable" but it's something you helped cause. Just be yourself and be with real friends, because who knows. You may envy someone because you think they are popular and they may envy you because you're fun.
13. Try not to get hung up on the small things. There will be so many things to think about that getting hung up on the small things will stress you out way more than you need.
14. DO NOT cause unnecessary drama, no one appreciates this, it is not considered cool, no one really benefits from it, and it is just one more thing to worry about.
15. Get as much sleep as you can!!! If you have a decent sleep schedule then a late night project every now and then won't hurt so much, but if you're going to bed late every night you will definitely regret that about 6 weeks into school.
16. Remember, you can do this!
