I attend an all girls high school. I consider this to be one of the biggest blessings in my life and have full belief the single gender academic experience through some of the most growing times of my life has been nothing but beneficial. I love my school. There are no fancier words to express the simplicity of how positively impacted I have been. I could write novels solely dedicated to everything it has taught me, but I had a slightly better idea. We stopped the program of having an idividual “little sister” 2 grades below you my freshman year, but we still consider ourselves to have “little sisters” (ex: juniors are the freshmen’s big sisters, seniors are the sophomore’s). I’ve found myself adopting a few individual little sisters by fate along the way, and always love teaching them the ropes. I grew up the oldest child with three younger siblings, so this is nothing new to me. Emma, my sweet sweet girl who has made her debut on the blog as a guest writer already is one of those little sisters. Another is my Shan, a crazy little soul sister who is a spitting image of my own character at that age, she impacts my life more than I do hers without her even trying. These two nuggets and many more have taught me so many lessons, so I decided to document a few for them that I have learned. I have a biological little sister who will be a freshman at the same school next year and these are for her to take into consideration as well. This blog has always been a safe haven for J.Crew style guides and coffee fanatics alike, but it has always stemmed for my love of putting love into words and documenting it for myself and for others to look back on. So prepare for a heck of a lot of love. Some of these are broad general high school lessons, and others are more specified to my own high school (i marked these with fun little stars). so take what you want, but little sisters, here is to you:

1/ your teachers are real people too. treat them like it! talk to them about their days, their lives, their families, they LOVE it and chances are they’re admittedly a lot funnier than we all think they are.

2/ so are the lunch guys, learn their names and learn to ask them how they’re doing on a daily basis.

3/ *Surprise Day probably isn’t on the day you think it is, study for your tests and quizzes.

4/ bring a water bottle. use that water bottle. love. that water bottle. i may have cried over a few (too many) lost water bottles in my career.

5/ YOTGO: You Only Take Gym Once. take advantage of it. also maybe study for some of the tests…laughing about ending up with a semester grade of a B+ is only half laughable but also half pathetic (this is me subtweeting myself)

6/ befriend upper/underclassmen. find friends who will make the thought of graduation bring your tears. i know i am so so soo lucky to have such fab friends who make saying goodbye SO hard.

7/ when you find yourself with free time on school nights. don’t watch Netflix. take a NAP. these are very under-appreicated and start to take advantage of them whenever you can.

8/ dress in layers. you never know when a heat stroke may hit ya and spirit days in sweatshirts are always great in theory. until you walk into math and need a major AC blast but taking your sweatshirt off would leave you learning sin v cosine in your sports bra.

9/ that being said, some classrooms will ALWAYS be cold. *320 could actually produce snow at any given moment I’m convinced.

10/ *please don’t ever feel the need to wake up before the sun solely to get a spot in upper-lot. getting to school a full hour before it starts if you don’t have to is silly as heck. with homework and other activities, sleep is already sacred, don’t sacrifice a few more minutes of it mainly because you don’t want to walk up soph lot. it’s not that bad and nothing better to wake you up that early than a nice morning hike.

11/ while we’re at it, let’s discuss driving. drive safe.

12/ if you don’t park perfectly in-between the lines down to the exact centimeter…don’t fret. it’s REALLY okay and REALLY you don’t have to go through the process of backing out and trying again unless it is insanely atrocious. it’s honestly just a hassle @ that point in the game.

13/ but also, learn how to park even kinda semi-good.

14/ *soph slump doesn’t always refer to field day and it is not real and you don’t have to participate if you don’t wanna just saying

15/ junior year is hard and it’s okay if you cry a few times.

16/ that being said, it’s okay if you cry a lot of times over any year. school is hard and you’re working hard, keep going.

17/ 99.999% of the time, your coaches and moderators care a lot more about you as a person than they do your performance in your sport or activity.

18/ *never say no to getting interviewed for the paper/yearbook/MBeat. as a journalism student, we appreciate it more than you know. AND DEAR UNDERCLASSMEN: if a big scary senior who is on either journalistic staff emails you about an interview…PLEASE REPLY/SHOW UP we are not scary and it is the worst thing in the world when you don’t because chances are we were honestly really interested in what you had to say!

19/ being a leader is a lot more than giving speeches. actions speak so much louder than words. cliche but right on the money.

20/ speaking of money, if you don’t want to spend it…don’t bring it to school

21/ *especially at an all-girl’s school, I have learned to cherish not caring how i look at school, going to college next year kind of scares me considering some of the records I’ve had with wearing the same skort literally all year…take advantage of that blue plaid uni

22/ but on the other hand, don’t be afraid to look nice. it is so okay if you wanna do your hair for school or match your shoes to your headband. you do you and do whatever makes you happy.

23/ never make fun of someone for trying.

24/ find the little things about this school that you love, you’ll start to really cherish them once you realize you only have so many days left with them on a daily basis. (see below)

25/ *visitor’s locker drinking fountain

26/ *not having a lock on your locker

27/ *the individual names on every computer in this school

28/ USE THE LIBRARY. IDK WHY THIS TOOK ME TO MY SENIOR YEAR TO UNDERSTAND BUT IT IS SO GOOD PLEASE USE IT TO HAVE TIME TO YOURSELF AND ITS QUIET AND USUALLY DOESN’T SMELL BAD AND IT’S JUST FANTASTIC PLEASE USE IT.

29/ don’t feel obligated to socialize every morning. chances are it’s before 7:45 am. literally no one has anything intellectually or inspiringly important before 7:45 am. go to the library and sit down and just be alone from time to time. social interaction that early seriously gives me the creeps.

30/ no one will ever shoot you down if you feel the sudden urge to bring in treats for the class. ever.

31/ you aren’t a nerd if you actually enjoy the books or essays you read in your lit classes. Great Gatsby is timeless okay?

32/  make friends with people you have in your different classes. it’s totally cool to have a friend group and group chat for every block you go to. the more the merrier am i right?

33/ don’t always feel obligated to bring a date to a dance. the best high school dance experience I ever had was with a group of entirely girls and i wouldn’t go back and change it whatsoever.

34/ (moving into the cheesy shiz): be true to YOURSELF. This school will accept you for exactly who you are when the rest of the world may not be. USE that. Take advantage of that. Allow this school to be the place you grow.

35/ I’m writing this last onthe day before my last day of school. Cherish your time. Love everyone. Smile in the halls. Fail a few math quizzes here and there. This place is about to treat you better than any boy in the future ever will. Love this place. 

Until next time pals, when I’m officially a college blogger!  Thank you to this school and these people for allowing me to create this slice of the web so willingly and nourishing me as I embrace my passions. 

That’s a wrap Crusaders.

-AllyK