No, you don’t have to straighten your hair every day. It is straight enough as it is. Anyway, the way your hair looks does not dictate whether or not people like you– nobody is going to like you any more or any less if you look a certain way. In reality, there is probably nobody paying attention to the way you look. Even though you think that all of the upperclassmen are staring at you and judging you as you walk to World History, they aren’t. 98 percent of them probably don’t even know who you are. So just don’t worry about it.

There are a lot of things you worry too much about. Especially the future. You are only a freshman in high school, and there is no reason you need to have your life figured out. You don’t need to know what college you want to go to, and you don’t need to know what you want to major in or where you want to work. You will change your mind more times than you can count. Stop researching random universities in Ohio. You are wasting your time.

Speaking of wasting time, stop procrastinating! If there is one key to good grades and success in high school, it is to stay on task and get your work done diligently. Waiting until 10 o’clock at night to start your homework will get you nowhere. It is always important to remind yourself that you will never regret completing your assignments right away…even if it means cracking the books as soon as you get home from school. Seriously.

Although your four years in high school will go by quickly, you will manage to do a lot of dumb and embarrassing things. These situations are inevitable, and at the time you might want to put a paper bag over your head and run away, but you will look back and laugh someday (like I am right now). For example, you forgot to wear deodorant to homecoming. That was a rough time for everyone involved. Your awkwardness is the cause of most embarrassing moments, especially around boys you have “crushes” on (how can you have a crush on someone you’ve never talked to??). You will eventually grow out of your awkward stage (for the most part), even though you are painfully naive and don’t realize how awkward you are, which is probably a good thing.

I suppose the best advice I can give to you, or any freshman, is to stop worrying about everything. High school is only four years of your life. If you live to be 100 years old, only four out of those 100 years will be spent at BC. Even though these four years can contain a lot of fun memories and learning experiences, nothing is ever as big of a deal as you may seem to think. So chill your grill and enjoy your life.

Natalie Hartwig