Notes To Freshman - Tuesday, October 05, 2010 By Christine Villanueva Advertising 1. Take class seriously. Nowadays, almost every job requires a Diploma. So if you do poorly in school without putting any effort in your classes, you’re screwed in terms of a job, unless you’re content with working at McDonald’s or Wendy’s all your life. Graduating high school will land you a more successful job: far, far away from the fast food field. 2. Be who you are, not someone else. You can be familiar with someone and witness different phases they go through like skater, girly, punk, scene or pretty boy and think that they’re ‘fake’ or you can have an epiphany and realize that high school is about finding yourself, even if it means changing your style. Find a style that you’re comfortable with and stick with the people that accept you for who you are, not for what brand of clothes you wear or how much money you have. 3. Have fun. Even though school is about learning, tests and studying, socializing is a part of your everyday routine at school. You can be a bookworm and a social at the same time. Get your work done first and then relax and hang out with friends or family. 4. Freshmen year does count. When it’s time to apply for college, they do single out your sophomore and junior years the most, but it doesn’t mean that your freshmen and senior years don’t count. Colleges also look at your average GPA scores throughout all the years of high school and your transcripts, which list all your grades in each class from each year. 5. Join sports/clubs! Joining sports, clubs or auxiliaries will definitely benefit you. You’ll meet new people, learn more things, and you get to represent your school. You can go through all your years of high school and see the same faces, or you can get the chance to meet someone new everyday. 6. Responsibility is important. The older you get, the more responsibilities you bear. As much as it sucks, it prepares you for the ‘real’ world, the world where you’ll be living on your own, working a job and paying for your own expenses. Learning new responsibilities might be a little rigorous at first, but in the long run, you’ll be prepares instead of struggling. 7. Different SLC’s give you choices for your future. Carson High School has a number of different Small Learning Communities that can benefit your future. For example, if you want to pursue a career in music or performing arts, the academy PAMA would be best for you, and so on. If you have an idea of what you want to be when you grow up, look up the academy that best suits you and join it! 8. Teachers aren’t here to ruin your life, but they’re here to help. Let’s face it, there’s always that one teacher that you think hates you. Okay, so maybe that teacher does. We’re only human. BUT they are teachers for a reason. Maybe the teacher gives you too much work or too many tests. In the long run, the more you exercise your brain, the more you’ll endure later on. If you can’t comprehend something well, just ask. Teachers are here to help. Later on, you’ll be thanking the toughest teachers you’ve had in high school. 9. Test scores matter. Remember that ‘hit list’ we were on, and how much controversy it caused? Our test scores are to blame; the CST test, specifically. Whether it’s because you were sick, didn’t feel like coming, heard it wasn’t important or had something important to tend to, this test still counts. Because of our low API (Academic Performance Index) score on this test, we’ve been on close watch with the LAUSD. So, I highly suggest putting some brains into the test unless you want Carson High School to suffer the future of a charter school. 10. Cherish the days of high school. Although it seems like class periods go by painfully slow, your high school years go by surprisingly fast. The next thing you know, it’s your senior year and you’re reminiscing on your freshmen/sophomore years. You might seem anxious to get out of high school quick, but when you’re at your last year, you’ll be hesitant to leave so make the best of it and enjoy each day.

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