Many students come into high school with an idea in their head of how everything is supposed to be and what is really important. Many students tend to leave high school knowing the reality of it and what is actually important. Senior Alex Brown just happens to be one of those seniors who couldn’t be more thrilled to have learned from his freshman mind.
“When you’re a freshman, a lot of people categorize kids into groups depending on the middle school that they came from,” Brown said.
Luckily for him, Brown realized over time that he didn’t really care about friend groups, or what middle school people went to. Hell, he didn’t even care about what high school people go to.
“What it ultimately came down to was, ‘do I like you?’ and ‘are you a nice person?’ I realized that it is so much more than about where you’re from, but more about who you are,” he said.
For Brown though, little did he know that the struggle to fit in wasn’t his only concern as a freshman.
“I remember being enrolled in mostly honors classes except my issue was that I didn’t really try in them. I didn’t get the best grades possible because my naive freshman mind thought that the title was enough. I figured that everything would end up okay because I was taking hard classes,” Brown said.
Soon enough, he came to the recognition that being in honors/AP classes wasn’t enough. It meant nothing for colleges if he wasn’t successful in the classes that he was taking.
“If there’s one thing I would like to tell all freshman it’s not to be lazy. Once I started to actively try and understand why doing homework and studying was important, my GPA improved significantly,” Brown said.
There’s more to high school than just the typical social life and academics. Popularity always manages to come up sooner or later.
“During freshman year I was worried about whether or not I was considered ‘cool enough’ to associate myself with who many perceived ‘the popular kids’. But now I realize that popularity is just more of something that appears in movies, not necessarily what high school is actually about,” he said. “Regardless of whether or not some people are considered more popular than others, it doesn’t effect who you are or the person you are after you leave high school. Now, I couldn’t care less whether or not I became friends with some people that I didn’t necessarily like but felt obligated to be friends with because of the mere idea that others thought popularity is important. I have solid friends now and to me, that’s all that really matters.”
Incoming freshman get the extracurricular spiel all of the time. Your elders make it seem necessary to join at least one, and that’s something that should really be listened too more often.
“I knew going into high school that it was super important to get into extra curricular activities, so without hesitation, I did,” Brown said. “If a specific activity doesn’t seem like it works for you after the first few days, that doesn’t mean you should just give it up. For me with debate, I kind of sucked at it in the beginning. I thought it was confusing and difficult but now I don’t suck at it. Now I have fallen in love with it and it has given me so many opportunities when it comes to traveling, and even scholarships I have received. So maybe right away you’re having second thoughts but don’t give it up. I’m not really sure who I would be if I hadn’t stuck with debate.”
Coming into high school and leaving high school, you should have two totally different views because of the fact that it’s pre/post experiences.Thankfully, Alexander Brown felt it would be right to share the lessons he’s learned.
“High school is like a game of cards. You don’t know what cards you’ll be dealt but once you have them, as long as you play them right, everything will be okay,” he said.
