Going from an eighth grader to a freshman in high school, it may seem like a breeze, but in all actuality, it’s hard. A lot of people are able to adjust easily to middle school, and many people think the same thing about high school. But what new students need to remember is that it’s different for everyone. What may seem easy to one person may be hard to another one, and that’s the same with everything everyone does. Almost half way through my high school career, I’m still trying to adjust. It can be hard, but you can do it. Students need to remember that it’s different from what you see in movies, and your hard times do have better ones to come after.

High school is not like what they show in movies and TV shows. In movies and TV shows, they don’t focus on the academic aspects. Kids go into high school with the view that every weekend they’ll have time to party and hang out with friends. I surely went into high school thinking that every weekend I’d be with friends and I’ll be at the mall or the movies or at a friend’s house, however, that’s not reality. The pressure that is put on students like me and my peers around me is exceedingly high.  “Almost 40 percent of parents say their high-schooler is experiencing a lot of stress from school.” (http://blogs.kqed.org) the worst part is that teachers don’t acknowledge the fact that students take six, seven, even eight other classes other than theirs. They pile on work and they just keep giving more. Students like myself and my friends spend hours and hours trying to do our assignments, sometimes we even don’t get a good night’s sleep. All students hear in their classes is about how you need to get good grades to get into college. It is sometimes hard to get the best grades because of all of the stress put on by teachers. With all of the work given, it’s hard to focus and a lot of students, like me, there aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything. From school, assignments, extra-curriculars and sports, students are crunched for time to do school work, go to practice and go to meetings and plan activities for their clubs. “Forty-five percent said they were stressed by school pressures” (http://blogs.kqed.org). There’s just so much to do for school lately. I know a lot of people who miss school now and then because they can’t handle the work load, or they’re just too stressed. People develop some symptoms due to their body being unsure of how to handle school. I personally get headaches almost every day because of my work load. I know other students who get anxiety and sometimes students are so over-worked they get really sick. Everyone reacts to stress and school differently but it’s the way students handle what life gives them that shapes who they are.