Surviving the First Year of High School: A Guide for Students, by Students

The saying “don’t bite off more than you can chew” is the quote of the year for any rising freshman. Despite the fact that many colleges look for rigor in your application, they also look at how successful you were in those classes. It’s not a good idea to pile up so many honors and AP classes, especially in your freshman year because this year creates a foundation for your GPA. This is the year ...

South Forsyth High School is a big school, not only in its size, but as a family, as friends, and as war eagles. There are different areas of the school here at South such as the Performing Arts Center (PAC), West Hall, Main Hall, the Arena, the Plaza, and East Hall. As a freshman, many of your classes might be spread out throughout the school. However, you have 7 minutes between each period to get to y...

Extracurriculars, no doubt, are essential for both being a well-rounded individual and having something to focus on other than academics. They are a huge criteria for college applications. That being said, it is integral that the clubs you choose to join are ones you are actually interested in and are willing to commit to. Clubs are meant to be enriching, not burdening. Don’t join a club simply beca...

Most every high school student cannot wait for lunch! At South, there are 4 lunch periods and each lunch is about 20 minutes long. The Dining Hall provides many different lunch areas such as a pizzeria, traditional, garden spot, international, and on the grill. Like in middle school, you have to type in your student number to purchase lunch. There are many microwaves around the cafeteria if you would lik...

Calling all rising freshman! It's time to hear about schedules at South! In your freshman year, there are some classes that are mandatory in order to graduate like Health and P.E. At South, we are a yearlong schedule of classes, however there are a few semester classes, such as Health and PE; semester classes means that you take one part of the course the first semester and finish out the entire course...

There’s no putting it mildly: the workload change from middle to high school is quite extreme, no matter the weight of classes. It’s critical to mental and physical health to prioritize assignments and do the ones that are more imminent first. Getting a planner is super helpful and blocking out a certain time for each class each day is essential. Spread out your week each Monday. A very helpfu...