Good evening Third Wave, my name is Vitalis Obidi and I’m going to be a junior at St. Ignatius High School. I want to talk about several things I wish I had done differently when I started ninth grade.
The first thing has to do with my attitude towards the importance of ninth grade. A lot of my friends and other students told me that colleges didn’t look at my ninth grade grades. Because of this I didn’t try as hard as I should have during my freshman year. Even though colleges don’t focus too much on freshman grades, they do look at them. Another reason to try hard in ninth grade is because your performance determines the class you will enter the following year such as honors or accelerated classes. Showing yourselves to be a serious student from the start keeps all your options open.
Many freshmen are intimidated from joining clubs or participating in extracurricular activities because they don’t know what to expect. You may want to try out for football but are afraid to get hit or basketball but don’t want to miss shots in front of your friends. You will get hit and miss shots, but that’s what’s supposed to happen because missing shots is how you get better at making them. Or maybe you wanted to join a club but you don’t know anyone, that’s the whole point, to meet new people. Remember that everyone else is just as nervous as you and wants to make new friends too. So even if you don’t make the team or new friends, the world isn’t over until you give up.
I want to add one more thing about asking questions and getting help. Especially during your freshman year, you will want and need to ask a lot of questions to teachers because it shows that you are curious and makes you look smart. There are no stupid questions. If you are confused about class applications or paper work, don’t hesitate to ask your counselor or Making Waves because its their job to help you and they expect you to ask questions. If you don’t ask questions, you could end up as the kid who didn’t write enough paragraphs on their essay or did the wrong homework.
I hope you guys are able to do well in your freshman year with this information and leave a great impression on everyone. Thank you.
