Unsolicited Advice: Five Tips for Enjoying High School

    In no particular order, here are five tips I wish I had been given (or taken seriously) years ago.

1. Get to know subs, librarians, and supporting staff. Teachers are great, but they’re not the only staff at IHS. Once you get talking to substitute teachers, librarians, and other supporting staff, you realize there’s a whole other world under the surface of IHS. I have yet to meet a supporting staff member who is not, in their own way, an absolute hoot and/or treasure chest of lore. From Agnes Ward’s numerous undergraduate degrees, to Joaquin Lira’s casual references to his time working alongside Cesar Chavez, to Armin Heurich’s heat pump map, there’s a lot to discover.
   
2. Sign up to take Unified PE. Unified PE is a flexible PE class taken with Nicholas Pemberton’s Special Education class. Anyone can find their place in this friendship-focused class, whether that’s letting loose in Just Dance, playing basketball, or walking circles around the gym. This class has allowed me to connect with peers I never would have encountered otherwise. It has profoundly changed my perspective on school, communication, friendships, and doors (long story). Plus, the class gets out early, allowing you to skip the lunch line.
   
3. Drop that one extracurricular you hate. I get it, but there’s no reason to keep on doing an extracurricular that doesn’t give you joy or a meaningful experience. Spend that time doing something more important to you, whether that’s spending time with family or friends, catching up on sleep, or diving deep into another activity. Whatever your least purposeful activity is, quit it. Trust me.
   
4. Attend school-sponsored events. Unpopular opinion, but pep rallies are actually fire. So are your friends’ concerts and games. So is Fall Festival karaoke. Celebrating your peers and having a good time is, in fact, not cringe. It’s reasonable to hate IHS sometimes, but try loving it a little bit too.
   
5. Stop talking about grades and college applications. I’m guilty of this as well, but there’s so many more interesting and meaningful ways to connect with peers. Talk about your pets, and your dreams, and the stupid jokes that make you laugh way too hard. It’ll be okay.