The Philadelphia High School Experience

We all regret some of the choices we’ve had in the beginning of our high school journey. Since we can’t go back and change them, we can always give advice to the incoming freshman who may need our advice. Coming from middle school can be a hard transition because there are so many new things to learn. New students will face a new campus, teachers, friends, and overall a new way of life. I believe that freshman students who struggle to adapt into high school can lead to poor grades, peer pressure, and losing focus of long term goals. Here are some suggestions to help incoming freshman have a successful high school experience.

Just weeks before the first day of freshman year, my family moved from Iowa to Boulder City, Nevada. I had gone to the same school, with the same people, from kindergarten all the way through eighth grade. Suddenly, I was whisked away to a completely different state, a completely different climate, school, and worst of all: completely different people. Much of my freshman and sophomore years were spent trying to establish new relations with my classmates. By sophomore year, my social life had improved and had a stable group of friends. Despite securing relationships socially, I was irresponsible in my schooling. In the middle of sophomore year, I faced an education crisis. My first semester GPA added up to a mere 2.8. Some blame could be placed on being uprooted abruptly, however, I hadn’t ever transitioned into high school. I could only stumble through, without any idea where I was headed.

High school was a long path of twists and turns to get where I am now. During my first year of high school I flew through my classes with all As, including an over A plus in my favorite class, geometry, and received an academic letter. I also began my first year of my main elective, Technical Theatre. Freshman year I participated in two sets of performances. I was a prop master for four student directed shows at the beginning of the year, and part of the run crew for the big musical at the end of the year. My crew was nominated for best run crew at a high school theatre competition, and won. The next year, I had more issues with my classes but had consistent As and Bs in all my classes. I took algebra two with trig to quicken my

In the first day of high school, I began a new chapter in my life. I must say, the transition from Junior High to High School has been quite challenging for myself. Since the beginning of this new chapter, I have been forced to overcome many challenges that I never had to deal with in my junior high school such as the sheer volume of homework, disinterest in certain subject areas, and an ineffective use of time throughout all of my core subjects. However, I never gave up on myself and continued to improve my study habits and time management skills while motivating myself at the same time to never stop improving in spite of setbacks and downfalls I may have experienced in the past 2 months. By the same token, I knew that today hard work will

As an incoming EOF (Educational Opportunity Found) freshmen attending Rutgers University this fall, I had the mindset that if I did well academically, the transition from high school to college would go by smoothly. Unfortunately, college isn 't that simple. The transition to college is much more complex than people perceive it to be, in my case, it’s the most difficult obstacle I’ve ever encountered. Therefore, my aspiration is to conquer this transitional period as quickly and fluently as possible. When I had to changeover from middle school to high school, I was terrified. I didn 't know what awaited me and how much different things were going to be. It turned out high school was exactly the same, with the exception of the grades being ninth through Twelfth. There was nothing to be worried about. On the other hand, that wouldn 't be the case in college.

My Junior Year of high school just recently started. I have learned so many different things while attending high school, and still have over a year to learn even more. As Matthew Kelly said, “whether you are sixteen or sixty, the rest of your life is ahead of you. You cannot change one moment of your past, but you can change your whole future.” This means while I have done a lot in my past, I cannot change anything that has already happened, but I am able to change my future. One of the most important things that I am involved in right now is school. My first two years at CBHS were good, and I made decent grades. Some of the grades that I made I am not very happy with now but I cannot change that so I need to focus on my grades right now because those are the ones I can change.

About four years ago, I was just starting my first year of high school. During my previous tenure in middle school, I was basically an average student with multiple C’s and barely passing classes. So when I entered high school, I was not that enthusiastic about it and I continued the trend of not really caring about my grades in the 9th grade. As I became more aware of the opportunities I could get by receiving good grades, I began to actually care more about school and tried to get good grades. I began to do something that I never did before,

HIgh school has always been easy for me, and probably for the majority of people that have been through the school system in America. 20 years ago there wasn’t a such thing as a program like northland CAPS for high schoolers. Also 20 years ago you didn’t need a college degree to pursue most careers. For me I’ve always been a procrastinator, even the application I submitted to northland caps was late. I’ve always been comfortable talking in front of large crowds and I’ve always been comfortable with myself. However, I was tired of the traditional classroom as well. The repetivness of being in highschool learning the same material has the juniors did before you. I wanted to try something different my junior year, and I knew that there wouldn’t be very many juniors in this program making it a bigger challenge for me.

Starting high school, I was not a perfect student. However, over the past three years, it is clear that my grades have drastically improved. Whether it was adjusting to AP classes or balancing extracurricular activities and homework, I became proficient at handling the twists and turns of high school. By smoothing out my rough edges, I have become a student with distinct goals and a strong work ethic. Having experienced both low and high ends of academic success, my abilities and mindset can be molded to any situation. I am confident that I have the talent, ambition, and the adaptive abilities to become part of a guaranteed

The beginning of the year wasn’t exactly as I envisioned as an eighth grader. I thought that going to high school would be some life changing experience with new people and more privileges. It turned out that it wasn’t that life changing so much as perspective changing and there was more work, more stress, and privileges tend to come with a price. My first day left me nervous, lost, confused, stressed, overwhelmed, and tired by the end of the day. The first thing I did when I got home that day

Walking into school on my first day of high school, I felt out of place. My face covered in acne, my teeth covered in braces, and the callicks in my hair stuck up through the abnormally thick layer of hair gel that coated them. My middle school social anxiety still ruled over me as I could barely speak with any member of the opposite sex. Yet, I still had an odd confidence about me. I had always been one of the best students in my class, even without ever studying for a test. I viewed high school as a slight uptick from the curriculum I had easily passed in middle school. I was wrong. High school exists as a microcosm of society, in which I originally failed to acclimate myself to the challenges posed to me in a setting of increased

Attending High School is hard enough, especially that last year in High School, yes senior year. Now let's add college classes to that and my High School routine is eat, school, and sleep. In the past, I’ve made horrible mistakes for not knowing how tough courses can get especially with an overload and not studying "right". This year I’ve made changes and improved on how, when and where I study to earn good grades and improve my knowledge.

There were students from all around the world who had different cultures, religions, and hardships. I perceived that high school is a race, a race where I can run at my own pace and my goals are the prize. I entered an environment where the opportunities were endless and I was allowed to accomplish whatever I want. My confidence began to flourish. I started involving myself in school work and began to participate in class. During my sophomore year, I engaged in numerous group activities such as the school play, science competition team, and advanced arts. I earned respect and developed a reputable character in school. I reached a milestone in my journey during junior year when I was inducted into the National Honors Society, played varsity tennis and became class

It was the first month of my high school years, I was as nervous as an incoming freshman could be. I had no idea how long and strenuous my years at Bensalem High School would feel. As many others, I had a hard time adjusting to the transition from middle school to high school. Unlike others, though, I struggled about twenty

At the end of eighth grade year, I was ready for high school with all of the new experiences and challenges that comes along with it that it brings. Throughout the summer I had participated in activities that allowed me to become familiar with the school and some of the students. Unfortunately, school didn’t start good at all. All the amazing people I had gotten to know during the summer, I didn’t have any classes with. On top of that, I am such a pariah in my EGE class. From the first week of school I knew that connecting with my fellow peers in that class was going to be a challenge because