Ace the School Year: Back-to-School Advice for a Successful Year
The transition back to school after summer break can be pretty bumpy. Re-perfecting your sleep schedule and ramping back up the workload can be challenging, as the relaxing summer has abruptly ended.
Create a homework space and routine.
Creating a homework space that minimizes distraction is crucial to at-home productivity. Finding a quiet space allows you to focus and maximize your time. Understandably, your homework routine may differ daily depending on your schedule. Still, it is essential to stick, at least loosely, to a schedule to maximize productivity. Whether coming home from school to work on homework or laying aside time right after dinner, allotting enough time for your work is vital to ensure you aren’t stuck cramming at the last minute.
Get involved.
Whether your interest lies in music, art, or athletics, getting involved is highly important. It not only gives you a community of people with similar interests who will always root for you, but it also will give you something to look forward to during the school year. The school day can be challenging, but having an extracurricular to look forward to can make the school day go by quicker and smoother. These extracurriculars are often where deep friendships can be built, and some of your most essential qualities can be developed.
Make at least one friend in each class.
Especially for middle and high school students who have several different class periods per day, it can be challenging if you don’t have any classes with your best friends. However, this does allow you to make new friends in classes where you previously didn’t know anybody. Striking up a conversation with the person to your left or right, a lab partner, or someone at lunch, can spark a friendship that could grow stronger than you may have ever imagined. Plus, having a friend in each class gives you someone to work on group projects with, someone to look forward to seeing during each day, and just an overall ally in that class setting.
Prepare the night before.
Preparing everything you need for the following school day the night before will help you sleep peacefully and allow the morning to run smoothly. Packing your lunch the night before, putting all your supplies in your backpack, and picking out your outfit can be good ideas so you can sleep a few extra minutes and aren’t rushed the next morning.
Create and stick to a bedtime routine.
No matter how much homework you may need to get done, how many chapters you want to read, or what episodes you want to watch, it is important to prioritize sleep. As students’ sleep schedules often get thrown off during the summer months, it is important to begin regulating the sleep schedule a couple of weeks before the first day of school to minimize the chances of complete exhaustion bestowing upon you.
No matter how intimidating the new school year may seem, remember that you’ve got this and have countless people around you cheering you on. By following the above advice, we hope you will have a rather seamless and successful school year!
