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Coming into high school, everyone told me it would be the quickest four years of my life. I always thought that it was still school, so it would go by just as slowly as every other school year. Lo and behold, here I am today writing this article about what I’ve learned in high school. You don’t realize it until it’s too late, but it literally feels like yesterday was my first day of high school as a freshman.

There are plenty of opportunities for you to gain knowledge in your four years of high school, but only when you use those opportunities do you gain the knowledge. In my first two years of high school, I was the definition of a terrible student. I never got my work done, never studied, and pretty much just went off every day instead. It wasn’t a lack of intelligence; it was just a lack of self-motivation and not caring what my grades were. I truly believe I would be at a higher level of education than I am right now if I had just paid attention and done my work.

Going into my junior year, something clicked, and there was a voice in the back of my mind saying, “You are better than this. All you have to do is try.” So that’s what I did. I started to pay attention in class, care about getting my assignments done and on time, and I actually cared what my report cards looked like. I started getting As and Bs, and I started to feel better about myself. High school can teach you a lot of things, but only if you are determined. I just wish I had figured that out before my junior year.

Once I started to care, I started to learn and actually retain the information that was being given to me. I’ve learned academically, of course, but I feel the things I learned about life, or things I can apply to my life, are the most important. Like in Mrs. Hyde’s class, she taught me about resumes and cover letters, which are very important for your life. Mrs. Inboden taught me about budgeting, financial savings, how to pay bills, and most importantly, how to cook. I know that sounds weird, but if you attended those cooking classes, you would think it was necessary too! I also learned a lot this year in Ms. Huffington’s work experience class about things that I will use in my career choice.

High school is very valuable, and without it, it would make life very hard. I’m glad I started to pay attention and care about school, or else I wouldn’t be here today writing this article. I hope that this article will help you to not make the same mistakes I made, and if you are in the same boat I was, it will motivate you to not make the same mistakes by starting trying and caring about school.