Dear Underclassmen,

Some may read this and some may not care what I’m going to say. Some may know me and some may not. I want to write this letter to you all to basically prepare you for your upcoming future in high school. As an underclassmen, I had a majority of senior friends and they guided me to become the high school student I am today. I’m here to do the same. Here goes nothing. Freshmen, you are becoming sophomores in less than a month. The one thing I will say to you all is not to rush growing up. Take your time and savor the moments you have as a freshman and sophomore. Your freshman or sophomore year may be the best years you have as a new teenager. Don’t worry about what people think of you or if you are cool or not. Just focus on being yourself and enjoying high school. I know it’s hard to enjoy it but it honestly gets a little worse. Also, YOU DON’T NEED TO THINK ABOUT COLLEGE ANY TIME SOON. 

Sophomores, you all are becoming juniors. Don’t try to run the school, trust me, it just annoys the seniors. Your time will come to annoy all the underclassmen. The main thing you all should focus on is SATs and to start thinking about your future. In your junior year, you will be bombarded with a lot and I mean a lot of assignments and work to do. With that being said, try to enjoy being a junior. At this age, you can get your license, a car, and a good paying part-time job. Personally, I feel like this is a time to fit all the stupid things you can do before turning 18. But try not to get into too much trouble, especially at school. If there is one thing I can say about junior year is that you don’t take your junior year for granted and try to make the best out of it.

Lastly, juniors….you all will become seniors very soon. There are a few things you’ll need to take into account. One thing is that you all now run this school. No matter what any of the underclassmen try to say or do, it’s your job to boss them around and obviously guide them in the right direction. One thing that people don’t tell you often is that YOU DO NOT NEED COLLEGE TO BE SUCCESSFUL! Not one bit. If you do not see yourself having a job that requires you to have higher education, then don’t do it. Don’t waste your time and likely your parents’ money trying to go to college just to drop out. Try to focus on what you want to do for your future. There are plenty of billionaires and millionaires who didn’t go to college. Senior year is the year to start truly finding yourself. If there’s any year to be yourself, this is the year too. Try to enjoy your last year in high school because trust me it will go by fast and senioritis will kick in probably by September. 

Take my advice or not, it really doesn’t matter to me. Try to respect your teachers but also remember that you too need to be respected. Just remember to enjoy being a high school student. Just in a blink of an eye, it will be over and you will be walking across the graduation stage. But don’t worry about that any time soon. 

Sincerely, 

Rachel Gordon-Martin