Stress Less on Tests and Finals at School

With final exams and tests right around the corner, we thought it would be helpful to share a few tips on how to take tests and have less stress.  Watch Girls With Dreams TV talk here. 

A few other suggestions to think about:

• Plan ahead:  Map out the weeks leading up to finals and build in time for fun and time to study.
• What’s your learning style?  Do you do better making flash cards?  Studying with a friend?  Highlighting and taking notes?  Figure out your style and use it to study.  For extra study tips, don’t be afraid to ask your friends or even your teacher.
• Try to eat and sleep well.  This is always hard during crunch time, but do the best you can!
• Exercise and Relax.  Getting exercise helps deal with stress in your body.  Take down time to to relax and don’t forget to take those deep breaths.  Deep breathing is a great way to calm yourself down especially during the test!
• Have Confidence!  You’re going to to be great.  Head into your tests and finals with confidence (even if you’re scared).  Attitude makes a big difference.   Using these tips you are going to do awesome!!!!
• Celebrate when you’re done!  Figure out a fun way to celebrate whether it’s getting a movie, having a treat, dancing to your favorite music, or maybe just hanging out with friends. 

How to Make Your Homecoming Week Stress Free

Homecoming Week is an exciting time in any high school but it can also be stressful!  If you want to have a great Homecoming Week, here are a few tips to keep you stress free!

1. Plan ahead.  Take 5 minutes to write down all of the extra activities you plan to attend as well as any extra work that will be involved.  For example, do you need to find a dress?  Do you need to buy the supplies for the school float? 
2. Next prioritize which events are most important to you and also map out when you can find time to shop for your dress and any other things on your list.
3. Ooops.  Don’t forget about your homework.  You want to plan ahead for this too.  Some schools let you get your homework ahead of time.  You might want to consider this.  If that’s not an option, try to work ahead as best as you can and also schedule windows of time you know you won’t be tired or busy.
4. Have Fun!  Homecoming week is meant to be a time of celebration, unity, and hanging out with friends.
5. For more great tips, check out what our team says on Girls With Dreams TV.

Advice for Freshman in High School: What You Need to Know About College

If you are a freshman or even a sophomore, college may seem really far away, but it’s important to start thinking about it as early as your freshman year.  We have a few ideas to get you started.

1. Talk to your guidance counselor about the right classes to take.  Map out your next 4 years together.
2. Talk to your parents about college.  What are their thoughts about it?  Can you plan visits to colleges youmight want to attend your sophomore or junior year?
3. Find out what the requirements are to get into the college of your dreams.
4. Never say No.  If a college seems a far reach financially or academically, push yourself to find out how you can make this happen.  Maybe you can get a scholarship or take a harder class load.
5. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about college to your teachers, guidance counselor, parents, and friends.
6. Live a balanced life.  Colleges like to see you were involved in different activites.  Find a club or sport that interests you and also look for ways to give back or volunteer in your community.
7. Check out more ideas on Girls With Dreams TV.

Tips for a Great School Year: Advice from Seniors

Whether your school year is off to a great start or a rocky one, you will want to hear this advice from a senior about how to make your school year the best!  Check it out on Girls With Dreams TV.

School Tips: How to Stay Organized

How well do you keep yourself organized?  Can you find every asasignment or are you turning things in late because you forgot to bring it with you to school?  What does your locker look like?  Are you afraid opening it might make books fall on your head or is everythin lined up?  Wherever you are with your organization, you’ll love these tips to help you stay organized at school.

1. Check out our latest Girls With Dreams on Staying Organized.  
2. Ask yourself, where are you most organized?  Is is your room?  Your clothes?  Your assignments?   How have you been able to make that work?
3. Get a planner or calendar and write in it!  Seriously, you need to use it.  Make sure you jot down any activities but also assignments.  If you have a long term project, you might want to write down what tasks you plan to complete each week.
4. Put everything away in the same place.  Find a place for your books, backpack, keys, etc.. that is always the same.  Then, it’s impossible to lose!
5. If you are on the more messy side, pick one day a week to re-organize and clean up!
6. Do you have a really organized friend?  Ask her for tips too!

Quickie Quiz to Take Your School Year from Good to Great

 Wherever you are in your school year when you read this, it’s never too late to turn it from Good to Great!  It’s helpful to look at your whole life in relationship to school, not just pick it apart by what subjects you are studying. 

  Here’s a little quiz you can give yourself.  Take a look at the following headings and rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 on how well you are doing in each area.  Celebrate your highest score!  Ask yourself how you have been able to have success in that area.  Now, pick one area you want to improve.  Let’s say you scored a 6 on School.  Ask yourself what it would take to move that 6 to a 7.  Remember you don’t have to do this alone.  You might need to talk to your parents, guidance counselor, teacher, or other mentor to make the best plan for you!

Self:  Are you getting enough sleep?  Are you exercising?  Are you generally happy?  Do you eat healthy?

School:  How pleased are you with your grades?  Are you working too hard?  Are you slacking off?

Friends: How well do you get along with your friends?  Do they pick you up or put you down?  How do you handle peer pressure?

Boys: Do you have any guys who are just friends? How do you feel about dating?  Do you feel awkward around boys or comfortable?

Family: Are you getting along with your parents?  What about your brothers and sisters?  Do you wish you had more family time or less?

Activities:  How busy are you?  Do you like all the activities you participate in?  Is it too much?  Or, are there  new activities you want to try?

Thoughts on Senior Year

So,  it’s definitely early…it’s 4:30 a.m. and today is the beginning of my last year in high school. To be honest, I’m a little scared. It seems like there are so many things that have to be done: college applications, scholarships, senior pictures, graduation, and maintaining friendships so they last through the years. I’m sure at least some of you are feeling the same as me, and I wish all of you the best of luck! Give it your best, play your hardest, and live like there is no tomorrow! Go class of 2010!

Advice for High School Freshmen

Are you going to be a new freshman this year?  You might be excited, nervous, overwhelmed, or happy.  Whatever feelings you have you probably have a few questions.  You can watch a live interview of Becca asking Stevie about freshman year.  Here are a few more tips to think about.

1. Keep a positive attitude. If you’re nervous about the new year, think back to when you entered middle school.  How did you survive that transition?  Focus on the ways you made it work for you and learn from your mistakes.
2. Surround yourself with good friends but be open to new ones.  Make sure you pick quality people to surround yourself with.  Highschool is a great time to meet more friends so don’t be close minded.  If you’re more shy, find a school activity you can try and get to know new people that way.
3. Don’t blow off your grades.  I’ve talked to alot of kids who regret goofing off too much their freshman year and messing up their GPA for college.  It is hard to find the right balance between schoolwork and friends, but you can do it.  If you are feeling overwhelmed, take a step back, take time to map out your priorites and week, and don’t be afraid to ask your friends or an adult for help.
4. Do you have other ideas? We’d love to hear what advice you have for freshman this year.

How to Make Your Big Dreams Happen

Do you ever let yourself daydream about a perfect life?  What would you do?  Who would you be?  Would you be an astronaut? A dancer?  A scientist?  A teacher?  An entrepreneur?

Here are a few tips to make your wildest dreams come true!

1. Make room for your dreams!  Make sure you give yourself permission to think and dream big.  Don’t let your mind fill up with the I can’ts or that won’t work.
2. Start a dream journal and put down all of your dreams and ideas in it.  You might want to cut out pictures that remind you of your dream as well.
3. Start researching what it would take to do what you want.  Do you need to go to college?  Who can you talk to that might have more information?  Stay open minded and slowly map out a course to take one step at at time.
4. For more great ideas, watch teens share more tips here.

New Challenges

When I began High School I wasn’t really involved in much around school. I have never been good at sports so I started trying to get involved in the clubs. Which clubs were fun but they never really challenged me like I wanted. I was really looking for something I could get involved in and later in High School be an expert and leader in. Luckily I found something I really loved. My sophomore year I joined my school’s newspaper and became an editor my junior year.  And now my senior year I have earned the position as Editor-in-Chief of my newspaper. When I look back I never imagined myself having this huge job but it’s one of the most exciting things I have ever had the chance to do. I am scared but really looking forward to this year. There is so many things I could be worrying about going wrong but instead I am trying to look forward to all the good things to come. I know it will be a hard job and a huge challenge for me but I am trying to believe in myself so I can do the best I can.  When challenges come our way instead of turning them down because we are scared we should take them on.  Being Editor-in-Chief will be a really good experience for me and I think that it could really help me later in my life and the careers I have in mind.

Next Page »