Each grade in high school presents new challenges and distinctions from the last. These changes can be a cause for stress in students who are unprepared to meet the new school year. Because of this, WSS has compiled the best advice from members of each grade.

Freshmen:

Mattie Harms ‘22  – “ Try out for sports even if you think you won’t like it.”

Kat Hagan ‘19 – “Freshmen/sophomores, no matter how mature you think you are, don’t date seniors.”

Erin Leigh ‘20 – “Freshmen, sophomores, join Theatre West as soon as possible! You won’t regret it!”

Our tips for freshman year: Freshman year should be the time to try out new things and challenge yourself to partake in extracurricular activities as well as work hard in classes. While classes are important freshman year, getting to know the new school should also be a priority, so do not shy away from joining that club or sport you want to participate in. In the long run, trying new things is what will get freshmen more acclimated with the school and the students body and will help them meet new people and form relationships along the way.

Sophomores:

Hayden Seering ‘21 – “Don’t get early senioritis.”

Amy Liao ‘21 – “Join a sport.”

Amy Crespo ‘21 – “Don’t procrastinate.”

Sophie Nims ‘21- “Don’t overwhelm yourself with hard classes if you’re not prepared.”

Liam James ‘21 – “Don’t do AP Human Geography.”

Connor Curtiss ‘21 – “Do your homework at a reasonable hour.”

Mary Woodward ‘21 – “Don’t get behind on your homework or you´ll want to die.”

Cymry Hieronymus ‘21- “Spread out your studying! Don’t wait until the last minute to cram!”

Brady Gromacki ‘21 – “Just be yourself! The right people will come.”

Our tips for sophomore year: Sophomore year usually marks a significant difference from freshman year, many of the times, the course load is a bit larger. This is nothing to be afraid of, good studying habits can easily be built sophomore year that can help carry on through the rest of high school. While some students do not want to overload their schedule, sophomore year is a good place to try to challenge yourself and see what you are good at before going on to junior year. Make sure to study well, do homework ahead of time and have fun because high school goes by faster than you think it will.

Juniors:

Emma Gibson ‘20- “Don’t overbook yourself. Because you’ll end up being so stressed. You need to take what you want in the required classes and recognize that you’re probably going to feel stressed anyways. Shameless plug: join theatre props.”

Andrew Burgess ‘20 – “Literally just sleep.”

Brett Cherry ‘20 – “Do your homework.”

Raymond Yang ‘20 – “Don’t procrastinate.”

Lilli Duncan ‘20 – “Take it easy! Don’t take a lot of AP classes because in my opinion, this is the most stressful year.”

Caitlyn Hansen ‘20- “Get involved in athletics or extracurricular activities to help ease the stress and provide an escape from school work. Smile through the stress, if you smile no one can tell you’re stressed.”

Marijke Nielsen ‘19- “Graduation is closer than you think! You can do it!”

Emmanuel Nakihinga ‘20- “Junior year [is] the hardest, have friends to help you share answers.”

Our tips for juniors: Just hang in there. This year is stressful, the course load is a lot heavier this year and the thoughts of college loom in the majority of juniors’ minds. Junior year is hard in itself, while it may seem good on the college applications to take five different AP classes, make sure this is something manageable. If it is, then by all means, load up that schedule, but if one favors sleeping at a reasonable hour, or perhaps doing sports or clubs, make sure there is a sufficient amount of time for that. Juniors: you simply can’t do it all. Pace yourself and remember, graduation is just around the corner.

Seniors:

Grace Christopher ‘19 – “As a senior, take classes you are actually interested in, not just ones that might look good to colleges because by the end of the year if the are not interesting it is going to suck.”

Emily Buck ‘19 – “Senior year, try to finish college applications before Christmas/ New Years…. Make early deadlines.”

Yousif Salama ‘19 – “Don’t get in the habit of procrastinating, it’s not good in the long run.”

Our tips for seniors: Senior year is marked with college applications and the thoughts of the future. Don’t stress too much and make sure your classes are interesting enough for the whole year. Also, do not procrastinate college applications!