Eyes Forward, Head Down by Meghan

Eyes Forward, Head Down by Meghan - November 2014 Scholarship Essay

Starting high school is like starting a new chapter in your life. It is something you look forward to all throughout elementary and middle school. Television and movies glamorize your last four years in school, and some aspects of it they portray accurately. One thing the media does not focus on about high school, though, is the actual education it is providing. The spotlight stays mostly on the drama that goes on within the school, as if it is the most important part of the experience. After all, people would rather hear about why Jake broke up with Rachel than what he made on his biology exam. If I could offer one piece of advice to an incoming freshman, it would be to focus more on actual school work than the drama going on around them.

Staying focused is an action much easier said than done. High school is like a fish bowl, and getting sucked into other people’s business is actually easier than you would think. Your social life is going to explode, and homework is not going to seem so important. Your priorities will be continuously shifting, and not always in the right direction. School may not seem like the most significant part of your life, but in the long run it is. What you do in these last four years are crucial because they affect almost every decision you make in the near future. If you do well in high school, you are more likely to go to college and ultimately be more successful, though situations do vary.

Ten years from now, you are not going to remember the clothes you wore or the people you thought you couldn’t live without. Throughout your high school career, people will come and go. Best friends turn into strangers and first loves turn into distant memories. You will constantly have people by your side, but sometimes you will be alone. Your situation will constantly be shifting, but one thing that needs to stay consistent is your focus on school work. Friends are an important part of growing up. However, your current friends are not the deciding factors of how successful your future will be. You are. By making sure your grades stay good, you decide your future. It is possible to have a social life as well as good grades. However, balancing the two can prove to be rather tricky. It is all about priorities.

High school can be overwhelming, and it will change you. The person you are on your first day of freshman year is completely different from the person you are on graduation night. I cannot stress the importance of your grades enough. High school experiences stay with you forever, but they stay only with you. Your transcript, on the other hand, gets shown to everybody: future college choices, job opportunities, etc. Staying on the right track is completely necessary, because the choices you make now are more influential towards your future than you would ever believe. If I could give an incoming freshman one piece of advice it would be to study for tests, do your homework, and avoid all the pointless drama. Keep your nose clean and remember why you are there.