• We are always craving for a secret formula, a formula that would be the answer to all of our problems in life; from how to cook a Christmas dinner to high school drama, there’s trillions of people who everyday take time of their day and Google articles on how to be better. After all, that’s how web pages such as wikihow are created. We are always searching for an answer, we seek perfection. Today, today more than ever we believe that everything should be perfect, we are teens, so our world is revolving around family, friends, groups, clubs, college and very importantly, high school. High school is our world today and everything that matters seems to come from there… Unfortunately, high school doesn’t come with a step by step plan in academics, friends and why not? Romance. Every high school movie has a touch of romance, so it is common to find little eight grader girls daydreaming of what their new life in high school would be like with all their dances and activities and apparent fun… But the truth is that high school goes beyond dances, socializing and relationships, it is also a place of learning.

    To survive high school, you don’t need complicated plans, following the crowd or be the smartest kid around. Really, what you only need is attitude. Once during my junior year of high school, one of my friends told me “People don’t realize it, but the key is to walk through the hallway with the feeling that you know where you are going. It doesn’t matter if you really don’t know, hey! At least you are feeling it, so the destination would come later” I looked at him and wondered if that could ever be true…how would you walk without knowing your destination? It is like studying without knowing when you are going to have the test or even without knowing the subject you are suppose to study, but oddly enough, it worked. During that time, I was cursing my first year in Stockdale and even though it was already February, I didn’t have a group of people I could call my friends and the fact that I didn’t have someone to talk to was already affecting my grades, but I did as he told me and I walked through the hallways with the feeling that at the end, I would find what I was looking for and amazingly it worked because that same week, I met (almost magically because they were the ones who started talking to me) the people who I call my friends nowadays. The thing is that if we go through high school with the feeling that we are less and no one really like us, then that would be true and not because you really are like that, but mainly because you believe it and people, somehow, just perceive it. This is true for high school and life. See high school is not only a step to college, but a place where you would get to practice and train your abilities in many other areas of your life—from how to socialize to how to act under your own domain.

    High school is a place of peer pressure. You don’t smoke? Sorry, you are not part of the gang but hey, you might be welcomed if you just try it and join us. Sounds familiar? It is very common that people would try to get you do things you really don’t believe are proper, things that don’t go with your values or the way you perceive life but the feeling of belonging is so strong that, at the end, you end up doing them any way and let me tell you, this technique although seems to put you a step closer to high school survival, the truth is that you are just getting farther and farther. The greatest misunderstanding in our generation is that they relate high survival with a success in relationship and academics, but they are wrong. Surviving the jungle, means to learn how to move and take the greatest advantage over certain circumstances as well as how to keep you away from danger. Peer groups are the danger of this jungle, and if you like being alive; then you have to learn the skills to refuse and keep you faithful to the most important person in the school. Yourself. High school is supposed to teach you how to defend your own ideas, you have to defend your own individual because out there, in the real world, people is going to keep pressuring you and if you are a sassy who says yes to everything simply because you want them to like you, then they are going to eat you. No one really wants someone who doesn’t have a mind of his/her own. Show your true colors, your real attitude and character and have the courage of saying, No! When you feel like it. You don’t know how to say No? It is just two letters, N+O=no! Say it aloud until it penetrates your very soul and being. Want a tip to make this step easier? Get to know yourself well, know what you like and don’t…come on have a date with yourself! Do anything to get to know you, because the more you know of yourself, the easier it gets to respect yourself. This last part even applies when you deal with romance.

    A very important part of high school are academics, and even though they are a really huge deal, they won’t determine if you get eaten by the school’s predators or not. See, I can sit here and explain you all this “rules” that would make your high school years easier such as study for your tests, asks questions In class, do your homework, respect your teachers and so on and on, but the truth is that I am no one to force you to study or even be in school. It doesn’t matter how many times I can tell you that Academics are important for college, and that’s why you need to study because in a fight between my words and your willingness, it is obvious that the winner will be you, but what I can do is to show you that there’s a future after high school, there’s more than parties and clubs in this world. The step three of high school survival is being aware that there’s always an ending and that there might be a brighter future waiting for you, but you need to work to get it. I don’t know how to put this in simple words, but you have to understand that everything you do right now is going to blossom in a nearby future. Maybe your goal is not attending an Ivy League, maybe it is having a rock band and probably that’s your excuse for flunking all your subjects but know that there can be more than another cliché rock band (with guitar solos and cheesy songs). Why you don’t try and study, maybe you are not going to have the best grades, but at least try it, what if at the end you decide to go to college and study music? Then, your band would stand out from the gazillions bands out there, and that would be because of the knowledge you have about your passion and your perseverance of getting it. Maybe your GPA is never going to be close to a 4.0; hey I’m right there too! But know that if your try, the options of a better future are wider and reachable…High school goal is not to make every single kid a smarty pants, but to make them smart enough to create options by themselves, in every situation, every time.

    Finally, dare to risk and jump into experience, obviously in a healthy way…with this I am not telling you to go and have a baby with your boyfriend or girlfriend, there’s limits and you know it. Risk in a healthy way…if you want to open a club, go ahead and take the risk; if you want to ask someone on a date, go ahead and take the chance. The only way we get stronger is through experience, and the only way we experience is by risking. Honestly, there’s no secret formula to survive high school or any other stage of your life, it is about enjoying the ride and learning from our experiences, of course, there’s some experiences that would cost us mistakes, but it is in our decisions and understanding were the success to survive high school and life truly is.