A guide to a positive high school experience

by Delaney Warner

Student Life Editor

The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.

Bradley students are getting involved by attending homecoming. Photo by Mr. Hamilton.

High school is four years of your life that truly rely on your decisions. You will hear people refer to them as “the glory years” while others consider them “the worst years of their lives”. As I am now fully immersed into my senior year and have had a fairly positive experience at Bradley, I feel like I should share how I obtained that.

The people that you surround yourself with matter. Saying this feels so redundant, but it is a huge factor in your high school experience. People who constantly build you up and want to help you be better do exist, you just have to find them. These are the people who will also call you out when you’re falling behind on stuff, but never belittle you. Finding these people may require leaving the people that you used to hang around. You’ll find that many friendships that aren’t working tend to fizzle out on their own and there really isn’t a need for a whole “talk”. This is okay and very normal in high school. Be sure to always treat everyone with kindness and please refrain from posting about your friendship split on TikTok. Grace Meister (12) believes that friends are the most important factor to having a positive high school experience. She continues, “you need people to be there and to help you through stuff.” Having the right people in your corner helps you immensely in high school.

Get involved. This is probably the biggest reason why my experience has been so positive. Through my years at Bradley I have participated in soccer, basketball, lacrosse, Jaguar Ambassadors, National Honor Society, Panda Club, Leadership Planning Committee, Class Cabinet, The Jaguar Times, and various other activities. Mr. Heinlen, a maths teacher, believes students should “get involved early and often to find your passions.” We are fortunate to have so many options of sports, clubs, and activities at Bradley that many other high schools don’t have. We have school and intramural sports so all can enjoy athletics regardless of their ability. There is about every club imaginable rather it’s volunteering, gaming, movies or shows, baking, and more that interests you. Bradley also offers incredible music programs between choir, band, and orchestra with various ways to get even more involved in all three. Not to forget, our amazing theater program never fails to put on a standing ovation worthy performance. Mr. Gmerek thinks that students should, “get involved in an extracurricular and establish

good relationships with their teachers — actually all adults in the building.” Getting involved allows you to build a relationship with the school outside of classes.

You’re not as important as you think you are. Don’t get me wrong, you matter just as much as everyone else in the building. However, not a single person is going to remember that you fell up the stairs on your way to class. Nor will they remember that your fly was down all day. The little things that you dwell on are barely even acknowledged by anyone else, most likely because they’re dwelling on the same thing in their own life. The sooner you’re able to quit thinking about small mishaps, the more time you will have to put towards the most important people and activities in your life.

Olivia Slominski (12) finds that “confidence is the most crucial factor to having a positive high school experience,” she adds, “if you’re not confident then you just won’t be able to do anything.” Having confidence in yourself and your beliefs will help you accomplish what you want within high school.

Spare some grace for yourself. These are the years where you gain a little bit more independence and start to find yourself. You are going to make mistakes and there are many more to come, I promise. Be aware of yourself and make changes as needed, but don’t beat yourself up too harshly over anything. This is the last four years of your childhood, so spend them being a kid.

Don’t stress out over the future. It is great to begin thinking about what you want to do with your life, but nothing is set in stone. When talking about choosing a major, high school often makes it sound like a life sentence. Yet, many people change their majors during college. I will most likely enter college as an undeclared major, but am certain that I will choose the right path for me once I am ready.

High school is supposed to be fun. Don’t take things too seriously and try to relax. Make an effort in school, but don’t make grades the only thing you care about here. Enjoy your time at Bradley, it goes by quicker than you know. And as always, go jags!