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What Is Reach a Student?
Reach a Student is a website established to give students direct communication access to student mentors in various grade levels. Students will be able to reach out to other students and ask any questions they have regarding student and campus life. The site will also stream videos of students sharing their experiences at Windermere Prep as well as activities around campus. Find Out More
During my time in middle
school, everything seemed easy. Now there were a couple exceptions like TAP, but
for the most part it was a breeze. I could go home do my homework in an hour
and then watch TV or do something else. I had a lot of free time on my hands.
At the beginning of the 9th grade year, I didn't think that 9th grade could be
much harder than 8th grade. You would not believe how wrong I was. Now, most of
the hard work came from my AP Human Geography class (which required at least 2
hours a night) and I was forced to learn how to manage my time well so I could
have time to do some of my extracurricular activities, and other homework. The
most efficient way to clear up time is to make use of your weekends. This may
seem hard at first because your weekends are your only time off from school,
but to manage an AP class with other activities you must utilize it. Utilizing
the weekend can reduce the workload. You must stay organized during your 9th
grade year or you will fall behind on your assignments. There are a few
different apps that I recommend to get organized as they have helped me in the
past. Using technology was a big help in knowing what is due and when.
iCalendar
Wunderlist
Todoist
Things
Outlook Calendar
Another big difference between school and high school is that
you go from the top of the food chain, to the bottom. In 8th grade you were the
"big man on campus", the apex predator, you had gotten pretty used to the
campus and the teachers knew you very well. In 9th grade you flip sides, you
become the "little man on campus" and are put into a totally different
environment. With all the different teachers and classes, high school can look
overwhelming. But know that by the end of the first semester, you will be used
to it. Another big fear most 9th graders have are the seniors. They are
expected to be big and bad, but they are actually friendlier than you think.
They will assist you in pretty much anything, whether it is directions or
advice for a certain class.
The final difference between 8th and 9th grade is the immense
pressure put on by college. When entering high school, you will have a moment
of realization that now everything matters. Each test, each project, each
choice that you make in high school will affect college. So in May, when you
are looking at your course selection actually look at what classes you choose
because those decisions can come back and haunt you. Make sure to pick classes
right for you, not too hard or too easy but just right. You must put all your
effort into each an every assignment because every grade matters and one grade
can affect your quarterly grade in a positive way or negative way.
Hi
my name is Bella and I am an 8th grade student at Windermere Prep. One
of my greatest passions in life is dance. I find myself dancing almost
everywhere I go. It is something that I could not live without. Each week I
dance for about 10+ hours. I also attend certain dance competitions every few
months, which means a lot of extra rehearsals. Sometimes I find it a little
tricky to maintain a 4.0 GPA as well as attend all of my dance classes and
rehearsals. However I seem to always find a way to make it work.
One
tip I would give others who are struggling to juggle all of their extra
curricular activities along with school is to stay organized. I would suggest
keeping a planner to write all of your assignments down on. As well as keeping
a few folders to organize any papers you receive from teachers. This way you do
not lose any time due to searching for a lost paper or assignment. Another tip
would be to get lots of sleep and eat healthy as well. Being tired or getting
sick would only lead to more schoolwork piling up, which will make it much
harder to balance school and your extracurricular activities.
My
last tip is to get some of your schoolwork done over the weekend. If you wait
until the week everything is due it will be extremely hard to complete everything
on time and attend your extracurricular activities. Even spending an hour on
your work over the weekend can make a huge difference. I know that all of these
tips have definitely made it a lot easier for me to keep up with my schoolwork
as well as dance, which is very important to me.
I
truly do not know what I would do without dance. It has provided me with so
many great opportunities that I am so thankful for. Through dance I can express
myself and teach others. I have even gotten to work with an incredible
nonprofit organization known as Dance Out
Bullying and got to educate others about bullying through dance. I hope to one-day
dance on Broadway as well as eventually own my own dance studio and teach
others. I hope to have a positive impact on someone's life through dance. I also
hope that all of my tips will help you maintain your busy schedule and allow
you to follow your dreams and achieve your aspirations
and goals.
During my time at Windermere Prep, my biggest challenge was definitely
time management. Seeing that we are all surrounded by technology, it is easy to
get carried away, and I am certain that others struggled with this issue as
well. On the other hand, many of us become preoccupied with other extracurricular
activities that take up more time than expected, and it seems now often
forgotten that perhaps we have spent too much time with extracurriculars that
it becomes near impossible to even cope with school work. However, with the
right planning one can successfully manage their time between multiple
activities and not have to stress out about school.
The greatest challenge may be allowing your extracurriculars cut into
precious time that could be used studying. So create a schedule that revolves
around how long these activities will take. Plan out a schedule of each
subject. Assess how much time they will take to complete. Then prioritize. It
would be useless to spend most of your time in a subject that you are already
very familiar with, so I suggest quick reviews of the easy content (just enough
to get you by for the time being, don't put it off so much to the point you
fall behind). Then spend most of your time looking at the content that troubles
you. Try to understand it. If you don't understand, be prepared to ask your
teacher for help. Your teacher is your friend and will always be willing to
help you out, so long as you make it clear to them that you need help.
Of course, too much studying can overwhelm one, so make time just to
relax. Don't give yourself too much time, because then you will eventually come
to regret it. Just give yourself the right amount to de-stress and do whatever
pleases you. However, once it comes time to work, then work. Don't stop until
your next planned break. And should a big test or exam be right around the
corner, and then you must not take any breaks. You will need all the studying
time, and doing anything other than studying will do you no good. You will have
plenty of time after the exam to do whatever you want; until then, work!
If
you utilize your time and these methods properly, then you will be successful.
I will not pretend that it will be easy; it will not be easy, but this will
help you tremendously.
I hope everyone has an amazing
New Year! I would like to thank Valentina G., a 12th grade student
mentor on our site, for suggesting blogging which will add a unique aspect to
Reach A Student. This already proves the importantance of peer to peer
help and support.
Our goal at Reach a Student is to
help the students at Windermere as much as possible by providing tips and help
from a student's perspective. Answering questions is a great way for
students to connect and share with one another, however, the knowledge shared
is limited by the questions asked. Blogging allows students to share
their thoughts more freely and anyone can provide their peers with whatever
information they think would be beneficial.
Since I believe that every student
has some kind of insight that could be useful to others at WPS, anyone can
contribute their own personal entries to the blog. I can even make your
entry anonymous if you choose to. I also believe that the WPS teachers
have valuable experience from when they were students (for example, how they
faced and overcame an obstacle that a student might be facing today), so I
reach out to all WPS faculty and hope you will contribute to our blog.
