The High School Essentials

Whether you are a freshman who is curious and nervous about starting high school, or a senior who just can't wait to get out, there are 10 essential items that you need to improve your high school experience as well as make it a whole lot easier.

The first item is of utmost importance. If you are in high school, you NEED a camera! High school is going to be a time in your life that you never want to forget. To ensure that you have many of your memories to reflect on, and not just the ones everyone else remembers also, you must document. The best way to document, take a picture. By having a camera you will capture priceless moments that will surely never be forgotten.

Speaking of documentation, if you are going to survive high school and not dread every day, you will need to stay on top of your homework. With so many activities, parties, games, schedules, deadlines, due dates, and chaos, it is important to have a planner or calendar: and use it! The word planner sounds kind of girly, so for all you men out their write your events and such on a calendar. I guarantee you will miss out on a whole lot less and please your teachers a whole lot more. Plus you can plan more for a day, if you are already sure your not going to overlap another plan.

The third thing you need to survive high school is a watch. Being tardy is always bad, and it can effect your grade depending on your teacher. By wearing a watch and keeping track of the time, you can ensure that attendance and tardy will not be making your grade suffer, it will be hard enough to keep it up as it is.

You are also going to need a heavy duty backpack. There is nothing worse than toting around all your texts, books, notes, folders, and projects during midterms and finals. And a backpack just makes everyday luggage easier to handle. A tip: make sure you backpack can most if not all of your subjects and necessary equipment in it.

More on necessary equipment, be sure to buy a table that either covers more than one subject, such as 5 subject tablet, or to buy a separate tablet for each subject. Trying to keep all of you class notes in one tablet gets too confusing and can end up causing a mess when it comes time to study.

Number six on our list is folders. As well as having a separate tablet for each class, you should also have a folder for each class to contain your homework and keep you on track for what is done and what needs done.

If you are planning on studying any algebra, you will need a graphing calculator, at minimum a scientific calculator. Often these are provided by your teacher for that specific class or can be rented, but it is something you will be needing for college also, so it is a good investment to make while you are in high school. That way you can become familiar enough with it for it to be helpful for you in college.

For all those moments that you don't have your camera, or for the things that happen during school that you can't take pictures of, you need a journal. Again you don't want to forget all the great, and not so great, things that happen.

The ninth most essential thing to have in high school is membership in a club. It doesn't have to be the student body or even athletics for that matter, but be part of something. You could even start you own club. This looks great on a resume, application, and is a great way to get scholarships for college.

Last but not least, the very most important thing to have in high school is an open mind and a good attitude. Cheesy as it may sound, don't get caught up in all the clicks and cliches. Your high school experience will be 1000 times better if you can enjoy every moment and not get caught up in all the drama. It's never quite as bad as it seems. Good Luck and Love Every Minute!!! It goes by too fast.