Dear Freshman Stephanie, A LETTER OF ADVICE TO MY 9TH-GRADE SELF Text and art by STEPHANIE LEE
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EAR FRESHMAN STEPHANIE, Getting more sleep isn’t the only outside-of-class lesson you’ll First off, one B in second semester Biology Hon- learn. Let’s start with an example. AP U.S. History, as you will ors isn’t going to tarnish your chances of getting into come to know, will be the most mentally exhausting and hardest a Top College™, so stop crying over your 3.93 in your class you’ll take in high school. That, coupled with your tendency bedroom. (Cherish your GPA while you can, because it’s going to to procrastinate, and your tireless pursuit of various extracurrictank over the next two years.) ulars and hard classes, takes a heavy toll on your sleep and GPA. If you’re not doing that, then maybe it’s September and you’re But here’s the thing. This sort of mental exhaustion teaches sitting in Benjamin Bolaños’s fourth period World History, watch- you far more than how to study more efficiently or stay awake ing InFocus. The anchors introduce a new segment — it’s a mes- into the wee hours of night. It teaches you to find your limits, and sage from the College & Career Center, with the list of colleges then see how much further you can push them. I promise, in the visiting campus today. You’re shocked: You’ve heard college names end, you’ll feel like you can do anything — because you can. You being tossed around like autumn leaves in the gust but suddenly can power through production week with five tests sprinkled in — you open the front door and find all the leaves piled up on your between; you can craft spectacular college essays; you could walk doorstep. Big Future is Watching. to hell and make it back in time to finish your AP Biology lab. It’s a Of course, both experiences (no matter how shocking they mental endurance bitterly fought for but victoriously kept — and are to you) are integral parts of high school. As time trudges to- it’s well worth it. ward May 31, 2018, you’re only going to encounter more of these Speaking of being able to do anything, you truly could do anyexperiences. Let’s face the facts: high school is thing. You could work to be a Nobel Prize-wingoing to change you in a thousand different ning scientist or a Pulitzer Prize-winning jourI need to emphasize ways. nalist. You could be the first Asian-American You’ll be learning a lot in your classes, the importance of this female president of the United States. Or which will lead you to feel highly stressed. But maybe you could work to be the best mothstatement: get sleep. listen: your worth isn’t measured by the numer in the world, a teacher in an impoverished ber of extracurriculars you do or the number school district, the laughing lunch lady at the of classes that start with “AP” or end in “H.” It’s measured by how deli. I truly don’t know. After four years of searching for who I am much you challenge yourself, how much effort you put into ev- and what I want to be, I’m left with more questions than answers. erything you do, and the lessons you learn outside the classroom. But, Stephanie, I do know this: stay true to yourself. RememI need to emphasize the importance of this statement: get sleep. ber this for the next four years. You’re a shining star; a gentle creaIt’s not cool to get under six hours of sleep every night — you do ture of deep love, fiery passion and a cosmic mind of wonder. Renot need to validate your hard work by accumulating severe sleep member this when you light this world on fire, because in a black debt. Health problems arise when you cut back on sleep, and your and white world, it’s important to stand for the constellations of brain works at an awful efficiency when you’re that tired. In fact, thoughts in your complex mind. Let your thoughts burn bright being awake for 16 hours straight will decrease your performance and brilliant. Keep loving. Keep speaking. And most importantly, as if your blood alcohol level were at 0.05 percent, according to keep wondering. Cleveland Clinic. It doesn’t sound too bad, until you realize the Love, Senior Stephanie legal driving limit is 0.08 percent.
verdemagazine.com
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