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New Year’s Resolutions
Most people make their year’s resolutions on Dec. 31. But students get a fresh start every fall when school starts again. Here are 20 things to do to make this your best year yet! 20. Go on a road trip with a few close friends. Camp, stay in a hostel, or play tourist in your own town by visiting a museum you’ve passed a million times but in which you’ve never been. 19. Fill up the gas tank of your favorite driver’s car. Doing this even just once will make you a hero for the rest of the year. 18. Read a book about something you touched on in class. You’ll love that you have a deeper knowledge of the subject. 17. Take a pottery class. Or classes in dance, sign language or Spanish, just because you can. 16. Get a good night of sleep before you take the SAT or ACT. 15. Learn a new word every week, and use it frequently. 14. Talk frankly with your parents about how you’ll pay for college. That way, there aren’t any surprises when the student-loan bills come. 13. Pursue an interest because you think it sounds interesting—not because it’ll look good on your resume. 12. Don’t apply to a college just because your friends will be there. 11. Don’t not apply to a college just because people you don’t like will be there. (Chances are, you won’t see them on campus.) 10. Become a regular at a coffee shop, or establish yourself as a routine visitor to grandma’s. Being expected and recognized are great feelings. 9. Take that last year of foreign language. If you do, you’re likely to either test out of college foreign-language classes or test into a higher level course. 8. Too busy to help out on a regular basis? Become a stand-in volunteer. Give your contact info to a soup kitchen, hospital or animal shelter so they can call you when one of their regular volunteers gets sick or goes on vacation. 7. Visit your grandparents. Don’t have any? Have a conversation with an older person you see all the time but usually pass with just a “hello.” Old people have terrific stories, and they’ll all think you’re adorable. 6. Exercise. Run, skip, kickbox or cartwheel to school instead of taking the bus. You’ll be amazed at how much you’ll walk at college. Get used to it now. 5. Bear with your siblings. You’ll like them so much better when you don’t live with them anymore. 4. Get a job. You’ll be thankful you squeezed in 12 hours a week as a lifeguard when you start to plan your senior trip. 3. Instead of shadowing a professional in an office for a day, ask to accompany your mentor on a specific task. Ask a business owner if you can sit in on a sales meeting. Ask a journalist if you can tag along on an interview. That way, you’ll be watching them in action instead of watching them respond to e-mail all day. 2. Write letters to your friends, even if they go to your high school. It will be good practice for when you’re at college, and everyone likes to get mail. 1. Get out and touch the ground when you’re in a new place. Walk around for a bit, and don’t be in such a big hurry to get elsewhere.
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