How to Transition to a New School Year

The start of a new school year is always a time bustling with excitement (for some people) and nervousness (definitely for most people). Unfortunately, preparing for it is usually a very stressful experience for both parents and students.

Right before the school year starts, you usually realize that you have a lot to do. You need to collect your school supplies, make a new schedule, and do many other things. It seems like there will never be enough time to complete them.

Thankfully, I can give you some tips that will help you make certain that your transition to the new school year will be a smooth and effortless one.

How to Transition to a New School Year:

1. Get to know your teacher/advisor: Before school starts, you should get to know your teacher so that you become more comfortable when school begins. Ask questions whenever necessary. Always remember that your teacher will be an integral part of you having a good school year.
2. Make a schedule: A few days or a week before the school year, make sure to create your own schedule. Schedule what time you will
   do each of your subjects and also what times you will go to bed, wake up, and have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Making a schedule ensures that when the school year starts, you are well prepared and organized.
3. Revise what you learned the previous year: To make sure that your transition to learning will be less rocky, revise what you learned during the previous year. Creating flashcards (and studying them) from your notes help make sure that you understand all the concepts and that they are fresh in your memory. You should be sure to definitely revisit the topics that you didn’t understand and go through the ones that you had a little trouble with.
4. Set new goals: Prior to the beginning of the school year, come up with your goals for the academic session. To help you with that, you can visit here.                         Your goals should reflect on everything that you want to accomplish during the school year. Making clear goals will ensure that you achieve what you desire. To learn how to set effective (and SMART) goals, visit here.
5. Set up a designated work space: Setting up a designated work space before the school year starts ensures that you will start the year organized. By organizing your space, you will notice that you can concentrate more. Just remember-no distractions!
6. Get your school supplies ready: You should make sure that you have your school supplies ready some weeks before school. By organizing your supplies earlier, you will have time before the school year begins to get anything that you might have missed. To make collecting supplies easier, come up with a school supply checklist.
7. Set up a sleep timetable: Did you know that not getting enough sleep can have many negative effects on your body? Some of these effects include: pessimistic mood swings, unhappiness, lack of energy, problems with remembering things, weight gain, and impaired brain activity. Surprising? Probably. So, you need enough sleep in order to perform your best in school. To ensure this, you should create a sleep schedule a week before school starts and begin following it so that your body will get used to your new sleep times.
8. Eat healthy: When you eat healthy, there are many benefits. Not only does it reduce your risk of being obese, getting heart disease, and getting type 2 diabetes, but eating healthy can increase your performance during school. It has also been shown to improve mood and alertness. Make eating healthy a lifestyle because it will be beneficial to you- not only in improving your performance in school but every aspect of your well being. Oh, and always remember- “Healthy food leads to a healthy brain!”
9. Relax a week before the school year starts: This sounds crazy, right? You think that you should be working as hard as ever before school starts, don’t you? Well, if you do that, it will just leave you feeling exhausted and stressed out. Instead of leaving everything to the last week, take it slow and steady from the beginning summer starts. This will ensure that you have the last week free, which in turn will allow you to be more relaxed.
10. Find coping methods for stress: No doubt that some of us will be stressed the days before the school year starts. To help you deal with the stress of the oncoming school year, find coping methods to help manage it. There are countless of these methods, whether it is physical activity or keeping a stress diary. To give you ideas of how to cope with stress, visit this website.

There are a multitude of ways for you to ensure that your transition to the new school year will be a good one!

These tips are designed to help you get ready for the new school year. As you read them, I hope that you get excited for the new academic session!

Before I go, I want to say good luck in everything that you do and thank you for reading. I hope it helps! 🙂

 

How to Make Summer Vacation Fun and Full of Learning

Summer! Ah, the very mention of the word gives us reason to rejoice. School is out, no more homework. We get to stay indoors all day and work on becoming reclusive technology users and video-game players.

Not to burst your bubble, but your summer vacation should not be wasted on watching movies and playing video-games. Of course you can enjoy yourself, but all of your time should not be spent on non-productive things.

Unfortunately, video-games and other devices can be very addictive and distracting from achieving your goals.

 

 

Warning: Do not spend the entire summer inside watching television and playing video-games. You have been warned.

 

 

You should be focused and goal-oriented during the summer (and also throughout your entire life).

To help you get the best out of your summer experience, follow the two E’s. I came up with this system while pondering on this exact subject. The two E’s are 1) enjoyment and 2) enlightenment.

There are many things that you can do during summer that will be both fun and productive. Some of these include going to museums, reading, and going on educational vacations.

Since I want to make your summer as stress-free as possible, I will list some activities that you can do to get the best out of your vacation.

How to Spend Your Summer: 

1. Join a summer camp: When you join a summer camp, you will be unplugged from technology (depending on the summer camp you go to). At camp, you will learn to be more independent which will help get you ready for college. You will also get to make new friends, some of whom may become your life-long best friends. As you can see, there are many benefits to joining a summer camp.
2. Join an internship program: Joining an internship program would help guide your career and give you real world experience in the path you are following.
   Getting work experience would also strengthen your resumé which would make you more likely to get hired for the job you want. Finally, by working as an intern for your future job, you would develop important and useful skills that would help you in the job that you are planning on taking in the future.
3. Take an educational vacation: Everyone likes vacation, right? If you answered yes to that question, I have some good news for you! Visiting different places can actually be educational especially if you learn about the country’s history, culture and visit some museums.
4. Enter a leadership program: Do you want to know what one of the most important skills to have is? Leadership skills! Highly prestigious schools like Harvard and many other colleges look out for qualities like being a good leader when accessing applications. And even if you don’t want to go to college, knowing how to be a leader is a very important life skill. You never know- it could come in handy.
5. Prep for the SATs: Alright, maybe this isn’t one of the fun ones, but it’s still very important. The SAT is an essential test to take when you’re applying to college. Preparing for it during the summer would ensure that during the school days, your schedule wouldn’t be so hectic. To see how you could prepare for the SAT, visit here.
6. Set up a charity: Volunteering to help the less-privileged is an act of kindness. Not only does it show that you are selfless, it also shows that you have love for everyone around you and we must all give back to society by helping others. You can set up a charity during the summer and get the money that you need and other things to donate from something as easy as a bake sale.
7. Get a new hobby: Hobbies are excellent for keeping you occupied. They provide you with a creative outlet while letting you take part in something you love. Hobbies also give you opportunities to learn new things. So, if you are sitting down bored with nothing to do, chances are that you need a new hobby.

There are many ways that you can be certain that your vacation will be both fun and productive. This list is just a guide that will get you thinking about other ways to have an enjoyable summer. Always remember the two E’s.

For more productive things that you can do during your summer vacation, click here.

So…what do you think YOU can do to help ensure your summer is a good one?

 

 

 

How I Can Inspire My Peers To Pursue their Dreams

“When you reach an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. You have the choice. You can overcome and be a winner, or you can let it overcome you and be a loser. The choice is yours and yours alone. Refuse to throw in the towel. It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure.” – Mary Kay Ash.

What does this quote mean? Well, it just means no matter what situation you are in, you should overcome it. You shouldn’t let your hurdles slow you down. You should be a fighter. Try as hard as you can to achieve your dreams and try as much as possible to turn a bad situation into a good one.

 I know how you are feeling. Adults around you tell you to follow your dreams. They tell you to dream big. Personally, I know that this feels like a daunting task. I’m talking from experience. You don’t know where to start from and you think it’s going to be terrifying. Well, contrary to what you think, if you put your mind to it, you can achieve any dream that you dream about and it just takes a few steps.

 A dream, according to Merriam Webster dictionary, is a strongly desired goal or purpose; something that fully satisfies a wish. When you envision your dream, you work out a target that you want to reach, an aim that is admired and one that will please you. You think about the destination, an outcome, that you want with all your longing to occur. The problem is that this outcome and where you are now seems like worlds apart.

 Let me tell you the process you have to go through if you want to make all your dreams come true:

1. To achieve your dreams, you must first envision them. You must have a clear understanding and know what you want and you must know why you want it. This is the first step in achieving your dreams. 
2. After you have figured out what you want your dream to be, make a plan on how you are going to achieve it. Write down what you will do everyday to succeed in reaching your dream and work on it. Take note of the people that will help you achieve success. Plan out what you have to do to achieve your dream and put in the effort to accomplish it.
3. Every month or so, look at where you are in achieving success and if you need to do something else, update your strategy. Once you are done with this, treat yourself with something that motivates you to keep on going!
4. If you feel down in the dumps and you don’t want to go on, go to this website and read some inspiring quotes. 
5. Remember to enjoy the trip that you go on as you try to fulfill your wishes- hold on though, because it will be a very bumpy ride!

 Perseverance. That’s a word that will stay with you the entire time you are on the road to achieving your dreams. Perseverance means persisting in something- overcoming every obstacle that comes your way. It means having enough courage to move on. No matter how difficult it is, if you persevere, you will achieve success. Yes, it might be hard, but always remember that: “Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.”- Julie Andrews.

Author’s Bio

Frances Ubogu, a conscientious and creative 13 year old, is an 8^th grade student at Bridgeway Academy. She speaks 3 languages: English, Spanish, and Igbo. Frances’ hobbies consist of watching medical documentaries on YouTube, coding her games, learning new songs on her instrument, and playing soccer. Frances has received many academic recognition awards that have been signed by the President Obama during his regime. She aspires to be either a Pediatric Neurosurgeon or a Pediatric General Practitioner (GP).