Incoming Freshmen! You're Welcome. by Johnnie

Incoming Freshmen! You're Welcome. by Johnnie - November 2014 Scholarship Essay

Every kid in middle school can’t wait to finally become a high school student. This is for several reasons, I would assume. Finally entering into high school represents the start of so many different things: true teenage adolescence, high school parties, first boyfriend/girlfriend, driver’s license, sports, afterschool clubs, meeting new people and above all – being one step closer to adulthood. Who wouldn’t be excited?

But, with so many new and exciting things going on at once, it’s so easy to lose focus of the most important part of high school: SCHOOL. After having spent two, maybe three years in middle school, four years of high school just seems like so much time! However, anyone who’s “been there, done that” can tell you just how quickly those years fly – and the older you get, the time only seems to move faster. One day you’re getting lost around campus, looking for the science lab, and the next thing you know, you’re at grad practice getting ready for the big day. But in order to get there, you have to stay focused, at all times. My advice for you new freshmen? TAKE SCHOOL SERIOUSLY.

Now, I don’t want you to think I’m telling you to have a boring high school life, and to do NOTHING ELSE but study – but just take it seriously. Freshmen year seems so far away from graduation, sophomore year is “only your second year”, and then junior year you’re already going over transcripts and looking at college applications! I think that maybe as kids we are so accustomed to putting things off until later, and cramming it all in to get it done at the last minute. High school doesn’t work that way, one “F” here, and a “D-“ there makes a huge difference in your senior year when all of your friends have half schedules and you have extra classes to make up.

A family member of mine slacked off throughout high school and he made it to his senior year far behind on credits. When he got to the end of the school year, realizing he wasn’t going to graduate and would have to come back for a fifth year of high school, he asked me rhetorically, “ Why didn’t anyone tell me this stuff matters?!”

So, here it is freshmen – this is me telling you to take school seriously, because it does, in fact, matter. Treat your freshmen year as if you’ll start applying for college that very next semester – treat every year that way. Have fun, make new friends, get involved in sports and other activities, but above all, make sure you stay focused!