Deep Breath by Noelle

Deep Breath by Noelle - November 2014 Scholarship Essay

High school. You’re going from a big fish in a little pond to a minuscule minnow in a sprawling sea; it’s terrifying. It’s exhilarating, exciting, and, sure, one of the most nerve wracking events you've faced before. Here’s where the pressure begins. Here’s where your choices correlate to the rest of your life. Here’s where the simplicity of a single decision, a “do I finish this assignment, or blow it off and get some sleep?” means the difference between making the grade or not, and making the grade means the difference between getting into college or not, and getting into college means the difference between living the life you've always dreamed or not.

On top of this mound of crippling pressure, throw on the icing of social stress. What with fitting into an entirely new group of peers, a new set of teachers, new ways of learning, and a new classroom culture, the list of “news” that you have to adapt to tumbles on and on and on, and high school appears more intimidating by the moment.

My advice to all of you incoming freshmen out there: take a deep breath.

I've been where you are now. This is the tenth school I've attended, and so believe me when I say that everyone, and I mean everyone, feels exactly the way you do now. Those nightmares you've been having where you get lost and are late to every class, where you enter into the cafeteria with no idea who to sit with, where you throw elbows and try to charge through crowds and still end up getting crushed in the cattle-drive of upperclassmen? They're all going to come true.

However, what freshmen don't seem to understand is that every other freshman is facing the same struggles. No matter what awful, crippling, socially-horrifying mistake you make in your high school career, it is one-hundred percent guaranteed that someone before you has already done the same thing, and someone after you will, too.

Moral of the story? Quit stressing.

"Solo viven una vez" is a Spanish mantra indicating the fleeting quality of life. In other words, enjoy these four years. Work hard, make memories, and have a great time, because before you know it, it’ll be over. Leave a legacy. There is no problem that cannot be solved with a little perspective, and I encourage all of you freshmen to rise above the anxiety and the nervousness and embrace this next phase of life for the exciting journey it is.

Remember that failure is not in the mistake itself, but in your reaction to that mistake. Don’t sweat the small stuff, and keep a positive outlook. In the end, if you walk into your first day of high school with a winner’s attitude, head held high, exuding confidence, people will gravitate to you naturally—I promise.

And, if you ever have an awful day, like we all do every now and again, take solace in the fact that my skirt once fell down during an oral presentation. Trust me, it doesn't get any more embarrassing than that, and I turned out just fine.

Enjoy high school, and make it count.