Entering High School

I can now officially say that I am a 2-year veteran of high school and, let me tell you, it has been difficult and tough, pertaining mostly on an emotional and social level.

A term that would most describe me as I entered high school as a freshman was "naive." Essentially what I expected was to make lifelong friends and have fun with a more academically challenging situation to augment my knowledge.

To say that high school came at me as a surprise would be an understatement. Immediately upon entering high school, I could sense a difference in all of my friends that I had spent time with over the summer.

All of sudden, all of the down-to-earth girls that I had bonded with over the summer were more interested in boys and parties. Naturally, I felt compelled to act the same way because I was devoted to becoming well-liked and popular.

At the time, I was also in constant battle with my father because he did not agree with any of the things that I was choosing to do.

Because of the constant combat between my father and me, I did what I could do to provoke even more anger and hate between us because I strived off the power of feeling like I made him inferior.

Since my dad had a MBA from UCLA, poor grades was what really boiled my dad, so that's exactly what I did. The lower my grades gradually dropped, the less the F's on the report cards bothered me.

Eventually my dad stopped caring and so did I, so receiving bad reports and not turning in work was inevitable. What I didn't realize then was that I was hurting myself more than I was hurting my dad.

Meanwhile, the social pressure of high school started to take a toll on me. I got wound up in a circle of gossip and began spending my weekends doing things that 14 year olds should not be doing, such as smoking, drinking, and sneaking out.

To me, this was what was supposed to happen in high school because everyone else was doing it and because everyone else was doing it, then it was okay.

Because I was doing these things on the weekends, I started to feel superior to everyone else and began acting like an alter ego of myself.

The way that I acted was rude and unprovoked, which explains the loss of many of my friends over time. Looking back on my freshman year of high school, I can't even believe the way I was behaving. However, I came out on top afterwards.

I recently finished my sophomore year with straight A's and extra awards. This is not something I did out of bribery or force; I did it for me and it is one of my proudest accomplishments.

I managed to make up the credits from my freshman year (It was tough! I never want to make up another class again!) and now have every intention to pursue my education past high school and would like to carry on into journalism.

The only advice that I have for incoming high schoolers, or even those who are struggling through high school now, is focus on your academics because they are what matter most. If you make good friends, you are very lucky and be sure to treat them in the way that you would like to be treated.

Most of all, don't like the strength of peer pressure from high school get to you. Be the person that you are, don't try to act like anyone else, and don't change for anyone, especially not for a boy.

If you are focused and have your eyes set on a future, people will respect you for it even if they don't admit it to your face. The most important part of being in high school is to maintain your individuality and stay devoted to your studies.

Always remember that high school is only 4 years of your life and though it may be extremely inconvenient, you will benefit from it and learn many lessons, even though they may be hard.

Two more years to go for me and they are something that I am dreading, but I am going to give it my personal best, which is all that I can do.

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