In middle school, you always heard about how exhilarating and big high school is. While that is very much true there are so many things that people don’t tell you. You could say that I’m kind of an expert now (with me being a senior and all).

High school is truly a weird combination of unnecessary drama, clogged hallways, paper-thin patience, and hormonal teens. Each student walking into school carrying their own invisible baggage, yearning for the bed they were forced to get out of to get here on time.

Over my three years of being a student here, I have been submerged into a wide variety of situations forcing me to create a list of things I wish I would have known coming into high school. Let’s get started:

1. High school is NOTHING like you see on tv or in movies.
We’re all likely to relate what we see on a flat screen tv to what we (might) encounter in real-life situations. If you learned something in Mean Girls, I applaud you. Cliques that color coordinate their clothing based on the day of the week, or friends who hang out just to “sabotage” their enemies is not a high school thing. Never have I seen a student get hit by a bus, break their spinal cord, and then show up to a school dance weeks later. I’m not saying that I didn’t quote Mean Girls for the next 10 years, all I’m saying is that it was not an accurate portrayal of high school. Bursting out into song every 30 minutes is arguably the most unrealistic thing to happen here, but thanks to High School Musical, we hoped for it. Without knowing what I would encounter during high school, I wish TV didn’t play to my often gullible nature.
2. Food is essential.
“Food is good, food is good.” Whether your mom packed it, you stuffed into your backpack or just decided to call for delivery, food is vital to your attitude and morale throughout the day. If you’re hungry, you’re most likely not happy or cooperative. Focusing also becomes almost impossible with lack of food. You never want to be that kid who didn’t pack enough food and your stomach is letting you know about it (that was me).
3. Teachers have lives outside of school.
Teachers are here to teach. I had assumed that most teacher’s sole responsibility was to cater to my educational needs. For the most part that is true but only in the 55 minute class periods given. You can’t walk into class, pay little attention, then expect the teacher to reiterate the lesson to you the day before a big test – not going to happen. After a few attempts, one of my teachers told the class “I have a life outside of school and kids, so don’t expect to respond to e-mail on Sunday night just because you didn’t pay close attention in class on Friday.”
4.You don’t have to be everyones friend.
While this remains a struggle to most students, one thing you must realize is that some personalities don’t merge well with other personalities. Therefore, you won’t always agree or even like many of the things one person says. In that case, you should just respectfully agree to disagree and continue with your life. We are in each class for a total of 4.5 LONG hours per week, so of course you are stuck with those whose company you may not enjoy. Best advice: Get over it.

Basically the point I’m trying to make is that in order to fully understand something, you must experience it for yourself. If you only focus on what others tell you or what you see, you won’t successfully feel comfortable and be prepared when trying new things.