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Senior year of high school is a cake walk compared to college. Enjoy it while it lasts

If I could go back and give myself advice I would encourage looking at scholarships mainly because I had no clue back then what was available for high school students. I would also find more ways to give back to the community and benefit other countries in volunteering. This would have made me feel that I'd had more purpose as a young adult and made a difference in improving someone else's life. Another is to educate myself in the many travels I have done so far and what it means to be more eco-friendly. I would press the issue of how our environment is quickly changing and the many species that are being affected. My hope is that I'd want my younger self to understand to be more mindful of our resources and the knowledge to pass to others. My goal of creating a traveling theatre company with diverse and handicapped actors would help benefit those in need. Each actor would introduce cultural stories or perspectives that will become performance pieces involving universal morals and multi-cultural choreography. Many productions would be performed where donations from audiences would be given to local children's hospitals.

If I could talk to me a year ago, I think I would tell myself to chill out and enjoy the ride. When I was a senior I was freaked out about choosing the right college but now that I'm in college I realize that the truth is it will all work out. At the end of the day you will be where you need to be.

I had always known I was going to attend a college or university, there was no doubt in my mind about that. The thing I didn't know was what school would be best for me. After some long deliberation, I decided to attend The Ohio State University and I was going to be a Mechanical Engineering student. Now the only thing left to decide on was where to live. I lived close enough to OSU that I could commute from home and save money on residency fees. So I went ahead and stayed at home for my first year here at OSU and as much as I love my family, I should've lived on campus my freshman year. I now live on campus in a fraternity house and I am getting to see all the fun things and great experiences I missed out on by living at home that first year. So if I could go back and give myself advice, I would tell myself to live on campus and get to really experience life and have no regrets. We only have one life to live so we should all live it to the fullest.

After completing one quarter of my college career, I have definitely learned lessons that I wish I could have learned before venturing off to college. I would go back and tell myself to really practice time management. I would tell myself that although it is such an important thing to make new friends and be open to the social aspects of college, the people you need to get to know, the friends in your dorm, will be there whenever you have the time. There is no need to give up studying on the weeknights to stay up making friends with the people on your floor because you are afriad if you don't they won't be there when you have the time. The friends and the people will always be there when you have the time to get to know them; don't completely ignore them, but they will be there. The test or quiz or homework, that has a due date. The school work has to be done by that certain time, and the grades can't afford to suffer because you are afraid new people will not still be there in your free time.

Freshman year was the most wonderful year where you encountered friends, classmates, teachers, and everything else about your high school. The work you established wasn’t as challenging as you thought it would be. Your studies and homework were approximately one hour the longest and not much effort was put into it. The best thing you could have done was get help from teachers and tutors but you chose not to. With all the time you had, four hours of homework and two hours of studying would have made an enormous outcome on your grades. The school also provided activities to do outside of your classrooms. Such activities involved sports, clubs, programs, and organizations. If you took more time to join some of them and be a part of your school, you'd expand a wider knowledge about yourself and find your best interest(s). That will lead you to your major or at least you have an idea of what you want. Most importantly, the effort you put in should have been your number one priority in school. Effort would have leaded you to a greater path where techniques you knew would have a better achievement towards your education.

The most important lesson I have learned thus far is to put school first. Studying is a four-year commitment, and to be successful it must be your top priority. Reading class material early and then rereading lecture notes after class makes studying for test the least time consuming in the long run. Also, having a distinctive study space also helps you to be the most efficient when it is time for getting work done. Lastly as soon as you realize you do not fully grasp a topic, ask for help. You are not alone on this journey through academia. There will be distractions, but with a high level of dedication, you will succeed.

My number one piece of advice would be to get more involved with school and the community. Being more involved makes life a lot more fun and easier once you get to college. It enables you to make many new friends because, more often than not, people go to college and rarely know many people. I would've told myself to be volunteer more because it helps you get recognized. I was always a good student so I didn't have to worry about that aspect, but I didn't have a good social life. Now the transition I will be taking to a university is hard on myself because I was never truely involved and didn't make a whole lot of friends. Things are a lot more stressful when I have to go about them by myself seeing as how I'm a first generation college student. I would also tell myself to talk to more advisors about important things to do and timelines to follow to be successful in college in the aspects of scholarships. Never let an opportunity slip away because you didn't want to be more involved.

Dear Katrinna, Congratulations you are almost there! Senior year will fly by and college will be right around the corner. I want you to stay focused and positive because the responsibilities of your future will be in your hands. You will be able to pick your own classes, join new clubs, and be on time for your classes because well, the option to go at noon is available. I'm going to tell you to start preparing now by getting organized, some professors don’t give you the chance to turn in your homework late because your dog ate it. The more you write down and remember the better you will feel. I know you are visual learners so let’s take the time to make calendars when things are due and stick to it. We can do this. I want you to keep an open mind and join as many clubs as you can and stay not only active with your school work but with your family and friends. Their colleges, if you don’t understand something now you maybe never will, ask questions. I know you can do it because I’m doing it for us!

Work. Work hard. Work harder than you ever have before. Drag through the nights and power through the mornings. Pour yourself into everything you do, because I promise it will pay off. It's going to come back to you, and you'll experience Karma in the best of ways. Work now, and it'll make things easier later. You won't be stressing over how to make ends meet or applying to every miniscule scholarship on earth. Work hard, and you'll be handed your education on a silver platter. You know you have the brains, you need the drive. And your education isn't something you can give up. You love learning. Without it, you'd be broken. But now, if you don't work hard, you'll have to be stressing all four years trying to figure out how to scrounge up the money. You won't be able to focus on the educatino or the things you love. Work right now, and you'll be able to spend the next four years having an education good enough for a pedestal, served on a platter. Work. Work, work, work.