Student Resources

NOTE: This was written by one of my friends as a fresh perspective. Enjoy! In the midst of chaos that is high school, burning out is all too common. I'm not going to say that grades aren't important, but can you tell me that ten years from now you'll still remember what your high school GPA was? On the other hand, your well-being will impact you for far longer than that. If you feel overwhelmed, stressed out, or lonely there's many resources available both online and at school for you. Please talk to somebody and remember that self-care is important! -JL

NOTE : This was written by one of my friends as a fresh perspective. Enjoy! Let’s start with a little anecdote shall we? The summer before high school started I was a blossoming little soon-to-be freshman ready to walk through those hallowed halls of high school and come one step closer to college, adulthood, and liberation. At that point I didn’t know how much I’d have to go through to get there. During that summer I got my first boyfriend. (Saying it like that makes it seem like I just caught a shiny Magikarp.) You have to understand that I don’t have the most experience with relationships as the longest one I was in lasted a good three months and that's because he was in China for most of the summer. It was nice ya know, but we ended it because we were better off as friends. And by that point I thought I was pretty expert at relationships. I’m not. High school starts and I’ve been talking to this guy on Facebook. It’s pretty chill; he’s witty and philosophical and it just s...

NOTE: This was written by one of my friends as a fresh perspective. Enjoy! For all you insatiably hungry students, just know that school food should never be your first choice in snacks. By that, I mean the temptation of the vending machines. That bag of chips isn't worth a dollar-fifty. Instead, buy snacks in bulk when you get groceries, or even make your own. The unit price is much cheaper, and they'll save you a lot more money than you think. Plus, you have more choice outside of what the school offers. -ES

NOTE : This was written by one of my friends as a fresh perspective. Enjoy! From my experience with regular and honors classes, I can guarantee that there's a stark difference between them. Generally honors students can be more orderly (even when goofing off) and they make good classmates since most of them want to do well. In regular classes, I get the impression that that's not the case. There are just some people that just don't care if they're disruptive for the classroom, and it's incredibly irritating. I've had classes where I am just overwhelmed with contempt for certain people because they are so distracting. So while regular classes can have a lighter workload, keep in mind that your classmates might be more disorderly. The opposite is usually true for honors classes, so think about that too. -TS

NOTE : This was written by one of my friends as a fresh perspective. Enjoy! If you ever find yourself preparing to pull an all-nighter despite having come home straight after school that day, chances are you're doing something wrong. Get to know how long it takes for you to complete certain assignments and divide your time accordingly. If you're a known procrastinator, you can even give yourself a little leeway, but make sure to plan beforehand so that you aren't rushing to complete that twenty-five paged essay the night before it's due. If you have to, make use of class time and lunch time as well. -ES

NOTE : This was written by one of my friends as a fresh perspective. Enjoy! One of the best things to have in high school is a planner. Some schools like mine sell their own planner, but you can easily buy one at Target (it might even be cuter too). Or, you can make your own bullet journal to add a personalized touch. Either way, a planner is essential since you can jot down all the things you need to do, and the due dates that are coming up. This way you're always prepared for what to turn in and etc. I have terrible memory, and if I don't put it down in my planner it's a lost cause. So save yourself the trouble and get yourself a planner! -TS

The college admission process is tricky, but after struggling with it for the early half of senior year, I have a rudimentary understanding of it...? I'm going to break it down step by step, but be warned, it's still obnoxiously complicated. The summer before senior year is the ideal time to figure out what colleges to apply to. I made a spreadsheet on Google (while you're at it, make an entire folder for applications- you'll need it), and it was my go-to in keeping track of everything. I'll attach a template of it below. Template .  Consider applying to different types of colleges (dream, reach, and safety) so you have a reasonable spread of colleges.  A lot of colleges have you apply online through the CommonApp. I know California state schools and the UC's have their own system, but it's all fairly similar. You'll have to fill out a lot of information, write an essay, along with smaller supplemental essays for individual schools. Oh yeah, wr...

Whatever I have to say on procrastination has probably been said a thousand times over- whether in the form of your parent's nagging at you or your own flaky advice to yourself. To save us both time, I'll just post this motivational video instead. Enjoy. You're welcome

Quizlet I just saved your high school career. Okay, all jokes aside, Quizlet is incredibly useful. It's a website where anyone can make flashcards and share with the community. Except it's a little more advanced than your typical paper flashcards. Not only is it a great way to study, but it can save you a lot of time if you choose to study off someone else's set.  Not all the sets on Quizlet are for studying though- I've seen a lot of homework questions/answers in the Quizlet format. In fact, all the answers to the worksheets my Gov/Econ teacher gave us this year could easily be found on Quizlet, typed up by the various kind souls of the interwebs. 

It's inevitable that you're going to have to work hard sometime in your high school career. Finding that mindset is really important, but also fairly tricky. It's different for everyone, and it can take some time to find out what works best for you. Here's what I like to do when I need to get into cracking on that 700 word essay: Apps StayFocusd Timewarp Writer Music: GhibliJazz Fragrance of Dark Coffee Noizio  /  Rainy Mood   Checklist Is your room clean? Have you showered? What about food? Have you had a nap/coffee? Task list written down? Let's go!

Here's a mini-story for you. Freshman year in biology, our teacher would assign homework questions from the textbook, and they'd be ridiculously hard. A lot of the answers weren't in the text and instead required... critical thinking. You couldn't bs your way through it either, since the teacher consistently checked and graded them. It took me until sophomore year to realize how some people always seemed to know the exact answer to his questions. And that was because everyone taking honors chemistry kept glorifying slader.com like it was gospel. To be fair, after checking it out myself, I realized it basically was. If you ever have a teacher who actually corrects homework (my bio teacher was an unfortunate exception), be sure to look up the answers. Not only will it save you time, but also the points that could make or break your grade (sure it's just homework, but you never know, it could make a difference).

PDF's! If it's a book, there's probably a PDF of it. Always try and find a PDF of your textbooks- not only does it lighten your backpack, but it also saves you the hassle of having to go back and forth between your locker- especially when you have to go back after-school to get that stupid Bio book you forgot to take home. And this doesn't just apply to textbooks- cut that risk of losing your English book and find yourself a pdf of Great Expectations.  I don't have much to offer in the ways of PDF's, but if you do a little digging on the web/ask classmates, you're sure to find some. Still, I'll link the few that I've saved just in case!  Algebra 2 https://my.hrw.com/math06_07/nsmedia/homework_help/alg2/alg2_ch01_01_homeworkhelp.html (change the "ch01_01" to the desired chapter/lesson) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-virn0M0SiJLUhsaGZXZGJvSkE/view Pre Calculus https://www.dropbox.com/s/t32yqg0h4pz172v/Stewart_Precal...

Hello, and thanks for visiting my blog! I'll start by introducing myself- I'm a graduating senior at Washington High School (c/o 2017), and for my Creative Writing class we're making blogs. I wanted to make a resource blog because I wanted to give back to the community, but mostly for that little kick of self-importance and the opportunity to tout the "wisdom" I've accrued. I'm sure my advice will at times be cliche and I doubt I'll be the most thorough, but it'll specifically tailored to freshman-me and things I wish I'd known, so it's veritable at the very least. So without further ado, continue on reading! I hope this blog helps in whatever small way it can :)