Blue polos, tacky blazers, elaborate bowties, and a spacious courtyard. What comes to mind?
They walk the halls with confidence, lead your favorite clubs, and are the captains of our sports teams. They are the senior class. While the seniors may seem loud and intimidating, they are in fact, the opposite.
For this article, a few highly successful seniors shared their wisdom with The Roundup so that you can ace your freshman year. Are you ready for the keys to success?
Keys to Unlocking Your Freshman Year Potential
Academic Success Basics
While you may have been able to ace middle school by just listening in class, this is generally a bad approach here at Jesuit. Getting the grades you want comes down to a few simple skills: work ethic, planning, and communication.
For most classes, you must be willing to put in the study hours outside of class. Results come from working smart and hard. This means finding the most efficient way to study.
However, hard work will only get you so far. Eventually we all run into a challenging math problem or essay that makes us struggle. Luckily, the Jesuit teachers are here to help their students succeed.
“Seek time to go meet with your teachers, they’re really helpful. If you have sports or anything they are really good at working out time in their schedule that works with your schedule if you are struggling. It’s great and you should take advantage of it,” remarked Chase Sims ’19.
Managing Editor of The Roundup, Reed Zimmermann ’19 simply stated:
“Meet with your English teacher a lot about your essays. It’s essential.”
Knowing your teachers is a vital component of academic success here at Jesuit. Most teachers are happy to meet with you if you send them an email or stop by during their office hours.
Know Expectations, Build Strong Habits
Moreover it is important to get to know your teacher’s expectations.
“To succeed freshman year you should learn how your teachers teach and try to answer tests how teachers want you to answer tests. During the first few quizzes and tests you can see how teachers grade. You see what they are lenient on and what they are not, and then you overcompensate in whatever you think you’re weakest in. Looking at rubrics and paying really close attention to the first few quizzes and tests and the feedback they give,” noted varsity debater, Chris Tran ’19.
Chris continued to highlight a useful study tool, Quizlet.
“So on Quizlet you can make vocab cards to help [you] study. It’s really useful for classes like Biology, Theology, English, Spanish. It’s very very useful, probably the best resource you have.”
Student Body President, Marco Marrero ’19 pointed out:
“Focus on getting good grades, do your work, do your homework, and always get your stuff done. Build those habits so later on in high school when it becomes more crucial like in sophomore and junior year you already have those habits down.”
In building these habits it’s important that you stay organized.
“Communicate with teachers if you are going to leave. Just do the homework and stay organized. I use a daily planner to see the assignments I have each day and I cross everything off when I finish,” noted Varsity debater Ethan Jackson ’19.
Overall, meeting with your teachers and knowing what they want are two major keys of academic excellence.
However, academics are only part of the Jesuit freshman experience.
Extracurriculars
Extracurriculars allow students to explore their interests and provide an outlet for their energy and stress.
“Just find something to do, whether it be a sport or a club because that will help you meet people and find your friend group,” noted senior Andrew Brannon.
If you only focus on academics, you will likely feel burned out by the time you become an upperclassman. After all, a healthy balance of academic rigor and extracurricular activities will lead you to an academically and socially successful freshman year.
Keep your eyes on The Roundup for more tips for success! Better yet–join our team of writers.
