the summer of my sophomore year was also my first year on the tennis team. someone showed up to practice and I thought she was a senior, so I introduced myself and asked what her name was. she replied, "Miss Baker." then it hit me. she would be my AP world teacher that year! I told her that she was listed as my 7th period and she and I were put on opposite teams for a drill. I ended up getting her out, and sure enough, she remembered on the first day of class. I guess it clicked from there, because she became my favorite teacher ever, and I ended up loving AP world history, and I guess Baker loved me too, because she let me TA for her a semester of my junior year. sadly, I could only do it first semester because I needed to get more elective credits, and second semester I had seminary that period, and I didn't want to miss seminary because I finally had a good teacher and a few really good senior friends in my class who I might not see after this year. but seminary ended when the seniors graduated (which was a week before school got out), so I went to Baker's classroom to say goodbye to the students I TAed for one last time. she asked me to give advice to them for next year, and some kid asked me to stand on the desk. so, I did. if anyone wants to see it, she posted it on her Facebook, and it got a lot of views! (1,233 to be exact), and if you aren't friends with her (which you probably aren't), I shared it on my Facebook. and if you don't have Facebook, then there is no way.
I only had 3 minutes, so I chose the very best things to share with them. but here is an extended version with all the important things I learned in high school this far. and I'm not saying everyone should read this, but if 1,233 people have watched my pep talk to Baker's class, then.....this gotta be pretty good. so, here is My Speech To Baker's Class Plus Additional Advice.
to put it simply, junior year can really suck sometimes. it's the year before your senior year, which is when you apply for colleges. so junior year, the counselors come in and talk about looking at scholarship options and how to prepare yourself for college. and it hits you that you really are getting to be that old. how did this happen? no one knows. and you HAVE to take the ACT that year at least once. I took it twice. I really want to go to BYU because I get half tuition since my dad's a professor there, it's close by so my dorm won't be too far from my family, and it's a great school. well, it's not the easiest to get into. my dad, being a professor there himself, said that the average ACT score is 28 and I don't remember what the GPA was, but pretty high. so, I was under quite a bit of pressure to get a good ACT score because I didn't want to take that test 5 times. it is TORTURE, I tell you. both days I took it were the longest days of my life (besides my aunt's wedding and the day we went to Japan and flew 12-14 hours-ish). the first time I took it, I got lower than a 28, so my dad enrolled me in the prep class before I took it the second time. and I thought it wouldn't help at all, but turns out, it helped me get more familiar with the test, and when I took it for real, it was still hard, but it was a little bit easier. 3 weeks later, I found out that I got a higher score than a 28, something that seemed unrealistic the first time I took the test. so, tip number 1: TAKE THE ACT PREP CLASS.
junior year is also way stressful because that's when a lot of AP classes are offered. I took AP US History and AP English, and I could've taken AP Calculus, but there is no way I would ever take an AP math class, so I got out of that one and took College Algebra/Trig (there's not very many options after taking Pre-Calculus your sophomore year). I was also in Honors Physiology, so between those 4 classes, I had a lot of homework. and in addition to that, I was on the tennis team, taught 3 piano students, practiced piano 1-2 hours a day, was in choir, and wanted a social life. I also wanted sleep. I was busy all the time. AND I have ADHD, so I could either find my motivation and get stuff done quickly, or my ADHD would kick in and I couldn't focus whatsoever. but no matter what, do your homework. grades actually matter. high school is really important. I've seen a few of my senior friends who are so talented, so smart, and so capable of getting into any college, but they slacked off and decided they were too tired to do their homework, never did it, didn't go to class, and didn't get into the college of their choice. DO NOT LET THIS BE YOU! so, if you're tired, just find that motivation to at least start your homework. if it's after 12:30, then it's too late for me and going to bed wins, and don't even think that you can get it done in the morning. it is impossible. but at least try to get it done. you will feel so much better knowing got something done. so pretty much, just DO YOUR DANG HOMEWORK.
a really unfortunate trend at my school is skipping class, or as Utahns call it, "sluffing". if you didn't do your homework on time, here's a simple solution: SLUFF CLASS AND GET IT DONE AT HOME! (or, more frequently, GET FOOD WITH YOUR FRIENDS!) have a test in class that you didn't study for? here's a simple solution: SLUFF CLASS AND STUDY IN THE LIBRARY! (or forget about it and get food with your friends!!)
no. no. NO. NO. do not do this. it isn't worth it. my parents check my attendance records every Sunday, so I know that if I sluff class, I'm screwed and my dad takes my car for a week. but for those whose parents don't really have rules about that, don't do it. you will always be in catch-up mode, and you will have twice as much homework as you would have had before. and if it's the day of a test that you didn't study for? if you didn't finish your project on time? ADMIT YOU ARE A SLACKER AND COME TO CLASS! I've had to do that this year, and going unprepared is better than not going at all. and it's a really bad habit to get into. I've seen it, and it's sad.
and please, do the work yourself. I'm not saying don't ask friends for help. I do that all the time. but don't have them do everything for you. it will not help you on a test. when I took AP world as a sophomore, we had to write our own flash cards. I think I made over 250. maybe even 400. but I wrote down every single word and every single definition, and this was my sophomore year. I just finished my junior year, and I still remember most of them. so, IF YOU DO YOUR OWN WORK, YOU WILL DO BETTER.
this was my pep talk to Baker's class in more depth. well, now's some more advice that I couldn't mention in that. and this stuff is also really important, and every high schooler should know this stuff.
it's okay if you change friendships. my best friends in elementary school weren't my best friends for a while. in junior high, we drifted apart, and somehow, junior year, I became close to them again. and I am so grateful for that. in other friendships, we drifted apart and never came back. you just have to learn that it's a part of growing up, and that people change, interests change, and friendships change. and the best friendships are those that are still strong, even after tennis season ends, even after you aren't in the same classes. I met one of my very best friends my freshman year while he was a sophomore. we had one class together, and then after that semester, I didn't really expect to see him that much anymore. but he kept on going out of his way to talk to me, and I really appreciated that. we were good friends when we had that class together, but after it ended, we became even better friends. we maintained our friendship my sophomore year, and I asked him to Morp my junior year, and now, he's graduated and has a mission call, but if we hadn't kept on talking to each other even after our class ended, I wouldn't have become such close friends. and sometimes, friends who you thought were good friends start making bad choices, and you don't have to support them! just be kind to them, and if they stop making an effort, then you don't have to, either!
school dances taught me a lot of lessons. I didn't get asked to Homecoming in the fall, and I definitely didn't expect that. I thought that since I was talented, I knew lots of people, I had lots of friends, I was part of the tennis team, I was sophomore homecoming princess, and I was pretty, I would get asked. but that didn't happen. I had been looking forward to getting asked since I was sophomore homecoming princess the year before, and I even got a dress and everything. but the boys just didn't ask me. now, I could've just said "screw boys and dances, if they aren't gonna ask me, I'm not gonna ask them!" that is not the way to handle it at all! I figured that if they weren't gonna ask me, I was gonna ask them anyway and prove to them what a good time I am and that I deserve to get asked. as soon as homecoming ended, a bunch of girls started asking to Sadie Hawkins, but I wanted to wait. well, the top 2 boys I wanted to ask, got asked within the 3 days after homecoming. so this leads to lesson number 2: if you know who you want to ask, ask them ASAP. don't just wait until the last minute. so, I had to hurry and ask someone else, and I picked someone I had only talked to a few times. and I ended up having a GREAT time, and we became pretty good friends! so lesson 3: it can be fun to go with people you don't know very well.
after Sadie Hawkins came Sweethearts. so, I had already learned my lesson with homecoming, but lesson number 4: don't anticipate getting asked to a boys choice dance. this doesn't mean being a pessimist, but it makes getting asked a lot more exciting, and it makes not getting asked a lot less disappointing. I didn't get asked to Sweethearts, and I would've liked to, but since I wasn't expecting it, it wasn't too hard. and back to lesson number 2: I had already picked out who I wanted to ask to Morp, and I asked him the week before Sweethearts. he answered me 3 days later. some girls weren't too happy because I asked "too soon", but since I knew who I wanted to ask, I just went ahead and did it. and I'm glad I did it when I did, because instead of focusing on not getting asked to Sweethearts, I focused on how excited I was for Morp, which ended up being the best date I had so far. when Prom rolled around, I still hoped to get asked, but I wasn't anticipating it because I hadn't been asked to the first 2 boys choice dances. but LO AND BEHOLD, I got asked to Prom, and a lot of my Prom group was also in my Sadie Hawkins group! so, lesson 5: PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE. if I hadn't asked to Sadie Hawkins, I wouldn't have made friends with the boys in that group, and I wouldn't have had a Prom group to go into. but getting asked to Prom was 100x more exciting because I wasn't anticipating it. and I'm glad I got the opportunity to go to the 3 dances I went to this year, because they were 3 of the best nights of high school.
MORP 2015: Lance and Jaysi, Jackson H and Hally, Maloy and Annie, Jackson R and Emily, Micah and Fielding, Regan and Scott, me and Jackson B, Kaitlyn and Chandler
finally, let's talk about change. this is my Morp group from March 2015. at the time, only Maloy had his mission call to Little Rock, Arkansas. but all the boys in my group were talking about starting their mission papers and how excited they were, and it hit me that all these boys would be leaving sometime this year (except Fielding who's in my grade). so, while I was on that date, I tried to enjoy the moment as much as I could, because in just a few months, my date would be going somewhere foreign to preach the gospel for 2 years. and it's a hard change. I've had a few of my older friends leave, and it's not easy to say goodbye to them, and just thinking about saying goodbye to these boys makes me really sad. now, all of them except Scott (who doesn't turn 18 until later this summer) and Fielding (who's in my grade) have their calls: Lance got his first, to Jacksonville, Florida, Spanish speaking. a month later, Jackson R, Chandler, and Jackson B (my Morp date) opened their calls on the same night: Jackson R to Charleston, West Virginia; Chandler to Atlanta, Georgia; and Jackson B to Dnepropetrovsk (ne-pro-pe-TROVSK), Ukraine, Russian speaking. and a month later, Jackson H to Eugene, Oregon. looking back on this picture gives me so much nostalgia because all of these boys were talking about preparing, and now, all but 2 have calls! it was so exciting watching them opening or hearing the good news, but it's also been very hard for me. I mean, these are all my friends, and they're all going stateside except Jackson B, who is going all the way to freaking UKRAINE. at first, I was just excited because he had been anticipating the call so much, and we were just relieved to know that it finally came. but the next day, it hit me that Ukraine isn't the safest or happiest place in the world. Russian is a hard language. and do I really want one of my best friends going there? but I just had to tell myself that Ukraine needs the gospel right now, and out of all my friends, Jackson is the one who needs to teach it there. as the departure dates get closer, what gets me through is just knowing that it's better if they go than if they stay, and that all of these places need the gospel, and that they are all doing the right thing. and I'm not ashamed to admit it, I've cried about it a few times, and the change is going to be hard for me. I'll be at school without my best friends. but while they're gone, instead of staying home and crying all the time, I will still put myself out there. if I'm going to write them, I need things to tell them about! so, I will try to make my senior year the best year I can and hang out with more people, get more involved in school activities, and have a good time!
so, sorry this was way long. but the take home message from this post: do your dang homework. don't slack. don't skip class. it's okay if friendships change, but they don't have to end just because you don't see them anymore. it's okay not to get asked to a dance, but don't let that define you. ask to the ones that you can get asked to, because it increases your chances of getting asked in the future. if you know who you want to take, ask ASAP. and change is hard, but try to make the best of it. if your friends get mission calls, just try to remember that they are doing the right thing, and that it's time for them to bless other peoples' lives, not just yours (did that sound cheesy? sorry about that). so, it's been a great year. it's been a hard year. but, now, school is out, and I can play tennis whenever I want and eat ice cream and go on bike rides and hang out with friends and try to get a job and sleep all day and attend mission farewells and try not to cry about it too much!
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