Don't Slack Off by Nestor Avila

Hey, what’s up to the little freshmen out there?! I remember when I was in 9th grade, too. It seems like the sophomores, juniors, and seniors like to pick on you, doesn’t it? Well, at least to ya’ll. I never got pushed around, but 9th grade was still the hardest year for me. That’s also the year, though, that I really paid attention and did my work. I remembered my big brother who also came to Cedar Shoals. He said that freshman year was the year to really put in work, so I did and it was hard because we had just came from middle school, where everything was all fun and games and nobody cared about credits or had the stress of not being able to walk on graduation. I felt stressed because there was so much homework and school work. It sucks to be a freshman, because they put you in the classes that you need to take in order to graduate. I was a little bit nervous because I didn’t know too many people and I barely ever spoke to anyone. Nobody really helped to get me focused. I kind of stood for myself since I knew that good grades meant good things. Now that I’m in 12th grade, I’m glad I didn’t slip in my 9th grade year, since it is the grade that you need to put in the most effort. After 9th grade, your other years are going to slide through like nothing.

I realized that slacking off in the first year of high school is a big deal. It is going to get you in the future and it’s going to be harder because life doesn’t wait; you have to keep up with it. Like me, once I became a sophomore it just seemed that I wasn’t working as hard as I did a year before and I guess it was because as you go on, you start getting new interests in other stuff, if you know what I mean. I’m not saying to not have fun, but try to balance fun and work and make sure you do have fun because you are not a teenager forever.