How Shorians Make it Through the School Day

How+Shorians+Make+it+Through+the+School+Day

Mia Hahn, Senior Editor

Going to school everyday isn’t easy. Forget about the tests, and the homework, and the study guide due tomorrow that you haven’t done, finishing out a day of school is exhausting. In the dead of winter when it seems that the entire world is freezing cold and dark, going to class five days of the week isn’t on the top of most Shorian’s wish lists. Don’t trip! Your fellow students graciously offered their tips and tricks for just making it through the day. Our students swear by the following techniques to get you through the school year, or at least until the next snow day. 

Junior, Chloe Mainhardt, swears by bringing snacks. Mainhardt suggests “Bring small snacks, or get something from the vending machine to give yourself a break throughout the day.” Bringing snacks is a tried and true way to make sitting in identical classrooms and being talked at for hours seems a little less mind numbing. Food is brainpower, keep some quick and easy snacks on hand for when you start to feel a little sluggish. Having something to munch on is going to make you more alert and less irritable, two things which make getting through class a million times easier. Eating a little in class is also going to help with that after school exhaustion. We’ve all gotten home and napped for hours only to wake up and realize it’s 7:00 and you never did your homework. Take Mainhardt’s advice, better safe than sorry.

Graduating Senior Mary Lapratt lives by her ‘to-do’ lists. Lapratt says, “Making a to-do list is a really good way of reminding yourself what homework you have to do and allows you to practice time management.” It can be useful to write down all the important things in your life, so they don’t get lost up there in your brain. Making quick lists is a way to see what you’ve accomplished, and what you still have to do. It’s an easy form of organizing your thoughts and taking away some of the stress that comes along with having a lot on your plate. Seeing everything that needs to be done laid out step by step in front of you is a super useful way to budget your time more wisely, and make the mountain of work in front of you into easily manageable tasks. Besides, nothing like the feeling of crossing something off a list. It’s like a little pat on the back from yourself!

Being prepared for anything that comes at you is going to reduce a lot of the stress you don’t need. Keep a little bag of the items you can’t live without. Before you leave for school in the morning, make sure you have your essentials. A simple school day can feel like a century if you forget your headphones. Phone chargers, gum, chapstick, your ID, deodorant; it’s nice to keep what you need tucked away for when you need it. This is an easy way to prevent morning-you from ruining the entire day for school-you. Keeping the essentials on hand ensures that you’re ready for all the curveballs high school throws at you. You forgot it’s the mile today in gym class. Lucky you have deodorant on hand! Aren’t you glad you don’t have to wait at the end of the book checkout line in the library? Thank your handy bag with your ID in it! Keeping a bag is all about minimizing the minor inconveniences that can ruin your mood. 

Being a high schooler is difficult, don’t let anyone tell you different! You’re lying to yourself if you said you wake up every morning ready to take on the day and go sit in a series of cinder block rooms for eight hours. However, it doesn’t have to feel like the end of the world. Take a little time out of your day to make things easier for yourself. Not everyone’s the same, some of these tips might not work for you, but if you’re waking up Monday through Friday absolutely dreading getting out of bed, think about what steps you can take to lift some of the weight off your shoulders. Your teachers are still going to assign each of their three tests for Thursday, and you still never did that study guide, but there are some easy steps you can take to make the school day easier to manage. Everything’s worth a shot, bring some crackers to your first hour tomorrow, give yourself a very detailed list with a million things on it so you can cross off a million things you did. High school isn’t going to get easier on its own, but Shorians have the capability to lighten the load.