Message to a Freshman

I’ve done a lot of reflecting in the past few weeks leading up to graduation. Four years, gone just like that. I shouldn’t say gone because I don’t feel like those years have been wasted, but boy, did they move fast. I don’t want to preface this speech by telling you about how scared I was when I arrived as a freshman and I won’t waste your time by telling you how sad I am to leave. I’m not sad. I’m not happy. The idea of graduating high school is this weird, lukewarm feeling for me. After all, I’ve spent the last four years at this school. Now everyone expects me to throw out my routines, move on to something new. I’m excited, I’m excited to move onto something new–a new chapter of learning and even more discovery, but I’m scared. I’m scared to grow up. I’m scared to move on. I’m scared to develop a new routine. It’s like waking up on Christmas morning, excited to see what’s under the tree, but scared that I won’t get what I want. With all that said. I can’t wait to start my next chapter despite my endless list of worries. Oak Hill will continue on without my class and I, even though we think we’re the most important kids who have ever been here. As I move on, I’d like to offer up the advice I wish I’d been given when coming into high school. This advice would be appropriate for an incoming freshman or even the freshmen that will be sophomores. So although no freshman or sophomore will ever hear this, I offer this list of things that I wish I’d known.

Number Ten: Although I’ve spent a majority of my high school career procrastinating. I won’t procrastinate to tell you this. Do not procrastinate. I know that seems very straight forward, but procrastination gets the better of every single high school student. Even the best students in the class procrastinate. I mean, I even put off writing this speech. Although it is inevitable, you should try your damn best not to procrastinate. It will happen, just don’t let it happen as often as I did.

Number Nine: Start your college search early. Look at many schools and do not count any out. Take any opportunity you can to tour a school or learn more about a school. If you do not plan on going to college, then start your career search early. Make a list of your options and start understanding what you like about certain careers or certain schools. The earlier you start your search, the better. Then you can look at scholarships, grants, loans etc. When your senior year starts you don’t want to worry about searching for your ideal college while you’re already drowning in assignments.

Number Eight: Be involved. Find a club. Find a team. Find a group of people that are going to help you be the best version of yourself. If you’ve always wanted to try golf, go try golf. Join theater. Do what will make you happy and don’t let anyone change your mind. If your friends don’t want to join the robotics club, but you do, then go join the robotics club. You’ll make Mr. Crocker happy. I think it’s very important to find a group of people that help you be you. High school will be a time where a lot of things change for you, but whatever you do, don’t change who you are at heart. People that you interact with in your clubs, and teams will help you to be who you are.

Number Seven: Develop a strong relationship with at least one teacher. Try talking to your Raider Connection teacher for once or just any teacher for that matter. Find a teacher that you trust and can go to when you need help. One of the great things about a school this small is that you have the chance to develop meaningful relationships with teachers. There are many teachers at Oak Hill that I can trust and I thank them for everything they’ve done for me. Having meaningful conversations with teachers can be difficult, but I think teachers understand this. Although your teachers are there to guide your learning and grade your papers, they are people to. Ask them how their weekend was, they might be pleasantly surprised and spark up a conversation.

Number Six: Pick on Luchini. Okay, I know I just mentioned that you should develop strong, meaningful relationships with teachers and I promise this is no exception. I only had Luchini for one semester because of his medical complications, but in that time we established a pretty funny relationship. When he returned to school I was no longer in his class, but we still got to talking a few times. Finally one day I realized, this guy only wears like three different shirts. From then on, Luchini and I have picked on each other day in and day out. Although people might tell you that Luchini is a little rotten gnome, he never fails to put a smile on my face. In all seriousness, I would not suggest going straight up to Luchini and picking on him, but if you have his respect it can be great fun!

Number Five: Learn something new. Learning new and interesting material can be fun and surprisingly rewarding. Find something that you want to learn more about. Find somebody that also wants to learn. Take advantage of the resources you have at school and the teachers here. Although they are teachers, it should be no surprise that many of them want to learn more too. Find something that interests and excites you and learn the crap out of it.

Number Four: Don’t linger on mistakes and mishaps. High school is full of highs and lows. Some days will be better than others, it’s just part of life. I know that it can be hard to let go of those bitter moments, but they just aren’t worth it. Coming to school upset, staying upset, not actively trying to make your situation better will just lead to worse and worse situations. If you want to catch a detention, then come to school angry and stay angry. Spend more time being happy. I know that isn’t as easy as sounds, but if you try to be happy and you keep that mind set it comes easier. The more time you spend trying to be angry the worse high school will seem. You will end up in a much better spot at the end of your high school career if you don’t linger on those bad days.

Number Three: Do your membean. Every year students scramble to finish their membean at the end of the semester. Doing 45-60 minutes of membean a week isn’t unrealistic. Although we always complained about it, 15 minutes of membean every other day is nothing. Think about all the time you spend on your phone or playing video games. I’m sure that it’s hours. After all what else is a teenager meant to do? Now think about 15 minutes, it’s really not that much. 45-60 minutes a week really isn’t that bad especially when you might have to do that much every night by the end of the year. Just doing your membean the way you’re supposed to will ultimately be easier than complaining about it.

Number Two: Learn from your mistakes. Although I’ve said not to linger on your mistakes. You should take just a little time to reflect and learn on your mistakes. You will make many mistakes while you’re in high school, whether they be in class or with your friends. Your mistakes do not define who you are. Learn from them. Overcome them. Be better than the decisions you have made. Learning from your mistakes and improving is one of the most mature things you can do in high school. Not only does this help you in high school but it also sets you up for moving beyond high school. Learning and improving upon your mistakes is something you will need throughout your life. Why not take the time in school to start.

Number One: Finally, have fun. High school is what you make of it. High school is not forever and although four years seems like a long time, it really isn’t. I don’t wish that I had more time here, but there are many things that I wish I did differently. Enjoy high school, enjoy what you learn, enjoy what you do. Make the most of it. You are pretty lucky to go to Oak Hill High School. I know there are a lot of negative connotations with our school. People will tell you that Oak Hill sucks. I think those people that will tell you that are not making the most of what they’ve been given. We have some of the coolest, most personable teachers here at Oak Hill. Go talk to Mr. Anderson, he’s a pretty cool guy. Mr. Wright may look big and scary, but he’s not. He’s down to earth and great to share a laugh with. The Boucher’s are a couple of characters and a lot of fun to be around. People might tell you that certain teachers are annoying or cause problems, but you really have to make the most of their classes. I’ve gone into classes thinking that a teacher is going to be boring or problematic for me, by the time the year was over I wished I could have more time with them.

Your time in high school will go quick. Do not wait to make the best of it. Oak Hill will provide you with many opportunities and I suggest that you take them. As my time winds down here at Oak Hill High School I think back on many things that I wish I had done. The list is near endless. I plan to take these lessons that I’ve learned as I move forward with my education. I’ll try harder to do my work on time even when procrastination starts to get the best of me. I’ll continue to learn from my mistakes and improve upon them. I will go forward knowing that my education will be what I make of it, so I’m gonna make it the best that it can be. Good luck in high school, you’re gonna need it.

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