My Advice for You is... by Claudia

My Advice for You is... by Claudia - March 2019 Scholarship Essay

If I were to conduct a tour of my high school, I would usually offer the many clubs, activities, sports, and classes you can participate in. I’d mention the common expectations, movies and books say about high school. Some expectations I had about high school were the huge lockers, the popularity and how you will be free to wear what you want. The reality is there isn’t much of a popularity status, everybody is serious when it comes to high school. There aren’t huge, long lockers, usually shown in movies, but we have lockers that is more than enough space. Yes, when entering high school, you will have the freedom to wear what you want, but there are restrictions. Don’t have high hopes on how high school would be.
My freshman year of high school, was to be honest, the most nerve racking. I was considered the bottom of the food chain. I was new blood to the school. I had plans to achieve my long term goals while still maintaining a social life. I planned to have a 4.0 GPA. I worked hard and managed to complete my goal. As the year progressed, I became more comfortable with my environment and my new friends that I’ve made. I made a lot of memories of my freshman year. I was in a Quinceanera, went to my first football game, and made new friends. I slowly saw myself change, or as I should say, mature into the person that I wanted to be. All you have to be is yourself.
The advice that was given to me on my first day of high school was, “it’s everybody else’s first day of school too.” My sister texted me the morning of. It wasn’t much, but yet it managed to calm some of my nerves down. Another piece of advice given to me was “you don’t have to change for anybody,” my old middle school friend sent that to me when I said that I didn’t fit in. I felt like the odd one out. Luckily, I knew a friend that knew more and she introduced me to them, but I felt like an outsider, so I decided to make some friends of my own and they loved my personality. It made me feel good that, I didn’t have to act like a different person, but my own self.
The advice that I would bestow on the incoming freshmen would be “don’t have high hopes for high school, all you have to do is be yourself, don’t stop until you’re proud, and laugh at life before it laughs at you.” Yes, you might think that the piece of advice is a little cliche, but the most to inspire people. They can take it into their own interpretation. The one that has impacted me the most was, “laugh at life before life laughs at you,” I’m always thinking life hates me and is laughing at me, but after hearing that, I decided to live a little. To have a little fun here and there, to enjoy my youth, to appreciate the time and friends I have now. I’ve seen a different side to me, a more vibrant and exciting side of me. That’s why I believe that piece of advice will also benefit other students, since they are always stressed or feel like life is knocking them down.