4 steps to become an exceptional high school student...

Hi all! Hope you all are doing great.

I have been thinking of writing on this topic for quite a few weeks now, this time, I finally did it. I meet high school students everyday, I tutor a lot of them too, and I realise this very frequently that most of them do not have a proper agenda of what they must be doing. They don't have proper guidelines to move forward,they have improper beliefs and misconceptions about every little thing that we feel unnecessary to talk about, and they don't realise the importance of the high school years in their lives. I have met people who have wasted their entire high school lives, being in depression( they did not even know they were into one), doing stuff which wasn't necessary or failing to live a normal lifestyle due to deteriorating health. All these issues arise, when you don't use your timetable and routine diary to schedule yourself, or when you are too busy in doing one thing, that you completely forget the other, which is equally important.

So, here's some dos and don'ts for the high school kids. The perfect habits which make you stand out from others, or atleast have a healthy high school time, with no common/cliche regrets later. Enjoy reading through!

1)Physical and MentalHealth:

First things first. You got to do a variety of stuff at the school, however, the pre-requisite for all of that is 'health'.

- First of all, make a proper diet plan. Eat a balanced diet, consisting of all the important nutrients and minerals. Consume more and more fruits and green vegetables. Never skip breakfast or lunch, which are the most important meals of your day.

- Drink at least 2 to 2.5 litres of water everyday. Apart from helping you to stay active and prevent you from dehydration symptoms, this will give your skin a very healthy look and make the unnecessary marks and spots to disappear soon.

- Workouts. Go to the gym at least twice a week. Remember, don't get into the wrong concept that you only need to go to the gym if you are fat and ugly and you want to slim yourself a bit. Exercise is and should be treated as an integral part of our everyday lives. Also, run at least thrice a week. It helps in keeping your muscles healthy and relieving you from unwanted depression. You will feel yourself more active and ready-for-any-task at school due to robust blood circulation.

- Learn to detect depression. Depression is like a dark abyss, you keep falling into it, deeper and deeper with time. It's not very difficult to deal with it, provided that you should know that you are depressed. And when you finally understand that you have become the victim of depression, you need to take measures accordingly (discussed in the next point). Obviously, you wouldn't know the solution, if you don't detect the problem in the first place. Below are some symptoms of depression and sort of the alarming signs, that instead of just sitting back and watching yourself drown, you should actually do something about it.

1. Excessive isolation, moodiness, secrecy and paranoia.

2. Expressions of hopelessness and worthlessness.

3. Abandonment of friends and favourite pastimes.

4. Dramatic decline in academic performance.

5. Sleeplessness. Excessive use of drugs/sleeping pills.

- Hold regular meetings with your school counselor. Trust them with your issues or what's keeping you from being on track. If you are being harassed by someone, this is the correct place to say it out loud.

2) Academic Performance:

The second most important thing after your health is, of course your studies, i.e how you perform academically at school. This will make people, especially teachers, respect you and will think twice before telling you off. Guidelines for better performance and grades are listed below.

- Be punctual. Don't be absent from school for long or very frequent. Reserve a special spot before the teachers, by befriending them, and an important part of the class, so that they miss you when you are not there and value you when you are.

- Listen attentively to the lectures. Ask lots of questions and explore new possibilities. But remember, don't speak too much and unnecessarily or you will lose your worth, speak only when your words are prettier than the silence. Try to listen more and say little when a lecture is going on. Do your assignments and submit them on time.

- Study on a regular basis. Learn through more effective ways like by making acronyms. Go through short lessons from your syllabus daily. That's more effective way of learning. Apart from just avoiding the unwanted stress, you will also remember what you learn for a longer period of time, maybe forever. So, study a little everyday and do not leave the entire piles to be studied a week before the exams.

- Research occasionally. Smart students are adored by everyone. Especially if you do something out of the box, or give reference of information which is not present in your school textbooks. Your peers as well as the teachers would be impressed by the large oasis of information you possess.

- Maintain your Grade Point Average. Now, the most important purpose, of keep studying, keeping up at nights with your heads dug in the books, is actually to maintain your GPA, eventually. Don't ignore this by thinking that you can be relaxed during your high school years, and cover for it later in your college years. ABSOLUTELY INCORRECT. Universities pay great attention over your school grades and this plays a very important role in your admission process in your desired college too. So, maintain a consistent score with good grades. Plus, learn to forgive yourself. You can't punish yourself for a single D on your report card for the entire semester, that will only make it worse.

- Get rid of procrastinating. Remember, the easiest way to finish a task is to get started.

3) Activities – Apart From Studies:

Recently, it came into knowledge that the very first thing to be considered by the admission boards of the prestigious colleges, is...no, not the grades....not your financial background....yes, you guessed right, they look towards your hobbies, your pastimes and the activities you indulge into apart from the studies. So, this is something not to be taken lightly.

- Join a sports team. Okay, now that must sound pretty cliche, but even the fact that sports maintain your healthy personality, the social relationships made, the leadership and time management skills acquired and the confidence to take decisions gained cannot also be ignored. In fact, a recent survey conducted by the Minessota State High School League reported that the average GPA of a high school athlete was comparatively higher than the students who were not involved in the sports.

- Participate in debates, MUNs etc. The art of debating requires a rigorous and critical thinking which leads to emotional and mental maturity. So, you have more to trust yourself on, you can rely on yourself more to decide what is right for you and you have more smart and legit points to make among your peers, which make you stand out and unbeatable.

- Volunteerism and Community Service:

This leads to more positive thinking and lifestyle, with a desire to help others and the courage to fight back and to stand for yourself and your rights. You will become more socially competent and you will have more problem-solving skills, therefore, you can tackle with your own little issues. Plus, this will be or this will eventually lead you into doing something out of the box, for which you will be valued greatly inside and outside of school.

4)Social Life:

To get to the gist of this point, simply imagine or compare a home-schooled child from the one who actually went to school. Both studied the same thing, let's suppose even got similar grades, however, there still would be a difference between both. And that my dear fellows would be due to the lack of a particular sort of 'social life' in the former student's life, which is to be more precise the hidden curriculum, the schools provide their pupils with. You learn a lot from being around your peers, going out with them, socialising in other ways or even fighting with them can teach you many lessons, which are not present in any school's curriculum and which you would be deprived from if you cut yourself off from the social life. I am listing some points below, which I suppose, would be helpful to keep you on the right track.

- Make friends with everyone, or at least act friendly. Arrange hangouts frequently, make plans for the weekends. Don't underestimate anyone, just make good relations with everyone and go with it. You never know who you may have to turn towards in your difficult times.

- Try to stay away from the gossip factories. Avoid talking behind people's backs and don't plot against them. Forgive frequently and willingly and keep nice attitude before and behind your fellows. Remember, double-faced people are not respected much in the society.

- Be Yourself. Don't be afraid of doing what you want, being what you are or representing your real self to people. Don't hesitate to walk or stand alone with what you believe, and don't try to impress others too much. You definitely need to respect others' opinions and value them, but ultimately trust your own judgment and conscience for the final verdict.

There is a list of never-ending guidelines on this topic, and everyone has their own views of getting along in high school. However, the tips above are the core of all the ones which exist, so keep them in mind and you would be fine. The easiest way out is to make a proper schedule, list down your priorities and value them. Be who you are and try to polish your talents.

People! Thank you so much for reading this. I really do hope you appreciate it and it has been useful to you.

I'll be back next week with a piece, until then take care and stay blessed!