Ask Alex

Hello Town Crier readers! As this year comes to a close, I wanted to give you my final pieces of advice before I graduate on how to survive high school! I hope you find them helpful :)

High School Survival Tips & Tricks:

Don’t be afraid to go to your teachers for extra help
Utilize your studies (if you are a senior, try to have two of them— you can get a lot of work done, especially college apps semester 1!)
Go to school events even if you think they’re lame; make the most of it :)
Honors classes aren’t as hard as you think, especially elective classes— the difference is usually an extra essay or presentation
Communicate with your teachers if you need extensions
Join clubs and socialize (you can meet people you would never meet otherwise)
Ask questions and participate in class (you will form good relationships with your teachers which will also be helpful for recommendation letters)
Start your college search early
Don’t compare yourself to other people (this may be cliche, but it is true)
Don’t take classes just because you think they will look good for college (take classes you genuinely like and excel in them!)
Be respectful and kind to everyone (be careful what you say to others— everyone has their own problems and it’s important to be there for them)
Surround yourself with good people
Don’t take everything so seriously— have fun!

Best,

Alex

Hello Alex,

As senior year comes to an end, I’ve been thinking about where I should go for my senior trip. Do you have any suggestions?

From,

Senior

Hi Senior,

For many of us, planning a vacation with friends is something to look forward to as we finish these last few months of high school! Whether it be a quick day trip or a week-long excursion, here are four senior trip ideas.

Maine

Do you like camping? Hiking? The outdoors? Then Acadia National Park is for you! Reaching over 49,000 acres, Acadia National Park is one of Maine’s most beloved attractions. Camping is a great way to immerse yourself in nature and connect with friends—not to mention you can show off those survival skills you have been waiting to use! I recommend hiking at sunrise up Cadillac Mountain, swimming at Sand Beach, and checking out the Thunder Hole. Bar Harbor is also a small seaside town not too far from the national park where you can enjoy amazing lobster, live music, and farmer's markets!

Cape Cod

Cape Cod is a popular vacation spot in MA, with beaches and small towns to explore. Some of the best beaches to go to are Cold Storage Beach, Mayflower Beach, Coast Guard Beach, and Race Point Beach—make sure to get to the beach early as parking fills up quickly! If you are looking for more than a day trip, I suggest checking out the many vacation rentals and hotels. Another great way to explore Cape Cod is biking. The Cape Cod Rail Trail stretches 25.5 miles from Yarmouth to Wellfleet. You can enjoy scenic views and stop at the many shops and restaurants along the way. The Fairgrounds are also a great way to spend a night with entertainment and amusement rides galore!

Costa Rica

Looking for a tropical getaway? Costa Rica is the place for you. Despite being a plane ride away, the breathtaking sites and activities are worth it. You can explore the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve with incredible lush landscapes and exotic animals, or visit the Jaguar Rescue Center. Santa Teresa is a must-visit for beach-goers and surfers with pristine sand and clear waters. If you love chocolate and coffee as much as I do, visit a chocolate/coffee farm tour where you can learn about the artisan craft of chocolate and coffee making!

Florida

Visit Daytona Beach to soak up the sun! I suggest touring the Daytona International Speedway, the track where the Daytona 500 NASCAR race is held. You might also enjoy the Daytona Beach boardwalk, which is lined with small shops, arcades, and food vendors. After swimming at the beach, head over to the zip line adventure course, go-karts, and mini-golf. Additionally, not too far from Daytona Beach is St. Augustine—the oldest city in the U.S! Visit St. Augustine to learn about its rich history, colonial architecture, and Spanish influence!

As always, these are just some ideas to get you started! I hope this helps!

Best,

Alex

Hey Alex,

I’ve had a lot of free time lately and I was wondering if you had any movie or TV show recommendations. I’m bored!

From,

Bored Teen

Hi Bored Teen,

You’re in luck! The world of cinema is constantly changing, with new movies and shows being released. With so many options, it can be hard to decide what to watch next. Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, or Amazon Prime are great streaming services that you can check out.

Here is a list of movies and TV shows I have compiled (my favorites and people’s recommendations):

Movies: anything MARVEL, Little Women, The Imitation Game, Forrest Gump, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Dead Poets Society, ET, Knives Out, The Glass Onion, King Richard, 10 Things I Hate About You, Theory of Everything, Life of Pi, Barbie, Elvis, Titanic, The Blind Side, My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, The Host, The Boys in the Boat, Miracle, Top Gun, the Harry Potter Series, Dune, Breaking Away, The Karate Kid, the Star Wars series, Avatar, Inception, and Interstellar.

TV Shows: The 100, Gossip Girl, Suits, Criminal Minds, Outer Banks, Stranger Things, Friends, The Office, That ‘70s Show, Friday Night Lights, and Monk.

I interviewed some people about their suggestions and here is what they said:

“The Amazing Race is a reality competition show where teams of two compete in a race, traveling across multiple countries based on clues and tasks. It gives an interesting perspective on different cultures and is just a fun show to watch.”
“A Silent Voice is an animated movie about a deaf girl and her elementary school bully and their story after they are reconnected in high school. It is absolutely beautiful, but also heart-wrenchingly emotional.”
“I like this Korean drama series called Moving. It tells this story about multiple characters with superpowers, who have to fight against this mysterious evil entity. This drama does a really amazing job at character building through its detailed backstories for each person, even if they are background characters, which creates strong emotional attachments to the whole story. I cried multiple times during the show.”
“My favorite ones are Home Alone and Gossip Girl. I also heard Wednesday is a very popular show, but I haven’t watched it yet.”

There are so many options out there, but these are just a few to get you started!

From,

Alex

Dear Alex,

I am a senior at SHS and have already lost all motivation in school. I am my grades will drop if I don’t step up my game. My work is piling up, and I don’t know what to do. Do you have any tips for staying focused?

From,

Stressed Senior

Hi Stressed Senior,

You are not alone. As a senior myself, I have dealt with what you’re experiencing. However, this is our last year, so we should finish strong!

Here are some tips that have helped me stay motivated:

Create a to-do list with all the tasks and assignments you must complete each day. You can create a list in an app or a journal. This will help you keep track of your deadlines. Having a calendar can also help you keep track of assignments and deadlines later on in the week/month.
Set ample time after school to complete your work. Often, you might get home from extracurriculars or sports and immediately start scrolling through Instagram and TikTok—you feel too tired to do any work, so this is your escape. However, you can’t get sucked into this bad habit. Spending time on your screen will actually make you more tired. You will not benefit from the excessive screen usage when you have to complete all your assignments late at night.
Find your study environment. If sitting at your kitchen table distracts you because your brother is watching TV across the room, or if lying in your bed makes you want to fall asleep, I suggest switching to a more productive environment. You will feel better when you are not easily distracted.
Take breaks. As important as it is to set time to do work, don’t study for 4 hours straight. Complete work in intervals. Go on a walk, exercise, or simply stand up from your chair in between each assignment. Taking breaks will allow your brain to process information better.
Don’t stress too much about the little things: just get through each assignment to the best of your ability.

I hope these tips help!

From,

Alex

Dear Alex,

Every time I hang out with my friends, we do the same activities. I’ve started to get bored… are there any new places in the area that you would recommend seeing with friends?

Thanks,

Activity Searcher

Dear Activity Searcher,

I understand what you’re feeling. Finding new places to hang out with friends is tough…but I’ve got you covered.

If you’re looking for places in Shrewsbury, I’d say there isn’t much for you here. You’ll probably have the most fun at Bowlero on Route 9, scanning the isles of 7/11, or playing video games in the teen room at the library. If you’re looking for places nearby, I suggest heading into Worcester. Worcester may seem a little sketchy, but trust me, there are some hidden gems in the city.

Interested in sports? Baseball? Head over to Polar Park. This ballpark is relatively new (opened in 2021) and is a great place to have fun with friends. Outdoor concerts and sporting events take place there, so make sure to check out their website for updates!

If sports and baseball isn’t really your thing, head a block over to Green Street. The Crompton Collective—a curated marketplace located in the historic Worcester mill building—is perfect if you are interested in vintage shopping, boutiques, books, and plants! My favorite shop is Seed to Stem, where you can find a plethora of geodes, plants, posters, candles, and more.

Want food recommendations? The Worcester Public Market has many restaurants and cafes for you to try. I recommend Pasta Mani for authentic handmade pasta or Taqueria Del Pueblo for delicious Mexican cuisine! The Table Talk Pie Store is also down the street, where you can get discounted pies and learn how the pies are packaged and made!

I hope this helps! Let me know if you need more suggestions!

From,

Alex

Dear Alex,

From,

Stressed Senior

Hi Stressed Senior,

You are not alone. As a senior myself, I have dealt with what you’re experiencing. However, this is our last year, so we should finish strong!

Here are some tips that have helped me stay motivated:

Create a to-do list with all the tasks and assignments you must complete each day. You can create a list in an app or a journal. This will help you keep track of your deadlines. Having a calendar can also help you keep track of assignments and deadlines later on in the week/month.
Set ample time after school to complete your work. Often, you might get home from extracurriculars or sports and immediately start scrolling through Instagram and TikTok—you feel too tired to do any work, so this is your escape. However, you can’t get sucked into this bad habit. Spending time on your screen will actually make you more tired. You will not benefit from the excessive screen usage when you have to complete all your assignments late at night.
Find your study environment. If sitting at your kitchen table distracts you because your brother is watching TV across the room, or if lying in your bed makes you want to fall asleep, I suggest switching to a more productive environment. You will feel better when you are not easily distracted.
Take breaks. As important as it is to set time to do work, don’t study for 4 hours straight. Complete work in intervals. Go on a walk, exercise, or simply stand up from your chair in between each assignment. Taking breaks will allow your brain to process information better.
Don’t stress too much about the little things: just get through each assignment to the best of your ability.

I hope these tips help!

From,

Alex

Dear Alex,

Hello, I am a junior here at SHS and I am really struggling managing my schoolwork and sports with everything that’s going on. I could use some help!

Thanks,

Stressed

Dear Stressed,

That sounds like a tricky situation! First of all: what you’re feeling is completely normal. Junior year is very demanding! Between course selection, regular tests, SAT tests, prepping for AP exams, and extracurriculars, it can be hard to manage it all. I would personally suggest a few things:

One, create a paper/digital planner. First, decide whether you would like a paper planner or use an online tool. Personally, I use paper, but it’s all up to preference! On iPad, I recommend the myHomework app on self service or google calendar. Or better yet, use both! Be sure to put in all your homework assignments that you have coming up.

Second, color code what you have. On digital tools, you can organize events by colors, so you could have green be your homework, red be your clubs, blue be your crew practices, and orange be your job!

Finally, plan ahead! Little events and homework assignments oftentimes get missed because you’re looking at them day to day. Instead, try to plan out your coming week on Saturday and Sunday, so you can be even more prepared for what’s coming.

With these steps, you can have a better image in your head of what your schedule is, and what you need to get done. With everything categorized, little homework assignments and events can become manageable if you see them coming. Best of luck to you!

Sincerely,

Alex

Dear Alex,

Now that the schedule has changed, I’m having trouble finding people to sit with in my lunch everyday. On some days, it’s fine, but other days, I have no friends and no one to sit with. Going up to random people and asking to sit with them is harder than it seems. What should I do?

Sincerely,

Lonely @ Lunch

Dear Lonely @ Lunch,

I have strong emotions about the waterfall schedule as well. I used to have a period 1 study during the second semester, and as a senior, that meant I could start my day at 8:30 virtually for the rest of the year. And that was taken from me. Wrenched out of my grimy, hard-working, calloused hands. But alas, “nobody likes change” - Ross Geller, Friends, Season 3, Episode 16, (insert time stamp here). The easiest and most obvious solution would be to find an empty lunch table as fast as you can and plop your stuff onto it as soon as you’re dismissed for lunch. Granted, now you’re the table hog, and you’re the one who people will have to ask if they could sit with you, but by now this should have helped you realize another thing. More often than not, people won’t care if you sit together if you can’t find a table to sit at. Roughly five out of every one hundred high schoolers will shoot you down because they have the empathy of a rabid hyena, which means the other ninety-five people will be fine with sharing a table. What might help is asking people who you share classes with if you could also share a table. The important thing is to not worry about being too awkward about it, because then your worry will turn into awkwardness, and then you’ll say something like, “Hey, you know how we have math together? Well, why don’t we also have lunch together and sit at the same table for the rest of the year, please, pretty please.” Don’t do that. People will laugh at you. And so will I. Good luck!

Sincerely,

Alex

Dear Alex,

I need some help approaching my teachers about issues I have in class. Some of my teachers are kind of scary, to be honest, and I’m nervous to talk to them or ask them for more time on things when I need it. It’s also just super embarrassing to admit that I don’t know what’s going on in my classes and I don’t want my teachers to think I’m dumb or hate me. Do you have any advice for me?

Sincerely,

Nervous

Dear Nervous,

The important thing to remember about teachers is that it is their duty to help you when you need it. Your success in class reflects your teachers' success in their ability to teach you. Therefore, by asking them for help, you indirectly help them become better teachers. Also, most teachers are human beings, and they will understand that life happens and that you’ll sometimes fall behind, miss an assignment here and there, or not understand the material no matter how many times it's shoved down your throat. So long as you make it clear that you’re paying attention in class and putting in your best effort to learn and study, then your teachers will be sympathetic towards you and lend a helping hand. If the idea of initially asking them for help in person scares the living crap out of you, then cope. On a more serious note, you could definitely start with an email asking if you could meet with them after school to help you then. Rejection is easier over email. Finally, you don’t have to worry about your teachers thinking you are dumb. We’re three months into the school year, by now your teachers already formulated their opinions on you. Nothing you can change about that. Hope that helps!

Sincerely,

Alex

Dear Alex,

I feel like I’m drowning with the amount of work I have in my classes. I have tests all the time and it’s hard for me to prioritize what I have to do. For example, on some days I have 2 tests, but then I also have other homework for my other classes due. I know I have to study and complete the other homework, but I also have a job after school and I usually don’t get home until 8:00. Then I eat dinner and take a shower and I know that something is not going to get done. Which things should I prioritize, the tests or the homework? Do you have any other advice for me to better deal with all of this work?

Sincerely,

NO TIME

Dear NO TIME,

It sounds like you haven’t slept in weeks. It also sounds like Father Time is relentlessly beating you on the head with an iron skillet. Put simply, you’re overbooked. You will need to adjust your schedule so that you have more time for the important things such as studying, sleeping, and breathing. I suggest you push back having a job for now and make it more of a summer gig, when you’ll have much more time on your hands. Freeing up those 5-6 hours after school everyday should give you ample time to do any homework you need to get done, study for upcoming tests, exercise, and stare at TikTok for two hours with some time to spare. Speaking of TikTok, an important time management skill is to reduce the amount of distractions you have to maximize productivity. A great way to do that is to remove distractions from the room you work in. Even working in the same room as where your bed is located can subconsciously put you in the mood to relax and sleep rather than get work done. Additionally, there are techniques to maximize efficiency when it comes to actually getting work done, such as the Pomodoro technique. The Pomodoro is essentially a sectioning of your study time in which you spend 25 minutes studying followed by a 5 minute break. This 25/5 minute split occurs two more times before studying another 25 minutes followed by a 15 minute break. And then the cycle repeats itself until you get your work done or until you pass out from exhaustion. This technique was so effective, that I didn’t want to ruin my perceptions of it, so I stopped using the Pomodoro method in fear that it would stop working, and now I can’t get any work done. But as concerning as that sounds, don’t listen to that, try the Pomodoro technique to see how much work you can get done for as prolonged a period of time as you can! And finally, when it comes to prioritizing your schoolwork, studying can wait. Essentially what studying does is it supplements your homework so that you further your understanding of the material in case you missed any additional information you may have forgotten. Besides, completing your homework is another way of reviewing the material to ensure you have it memorized well enough to not have to resort to Google one too many times. As for which assignments to pick and choose to do first or last, it’s really about personal preference. I favor completing hard tasks first when I have a lot of time on my hands, because if the day draws to an end, I could breeze through the easy assignments knowing I’ve already completed the tougher ones. If I have shorter amounts of time split throughout the week, I’d start with my shorter assignments, since those are typically due the next day, and that’s all I might have time for that day. In this case, the larger assignments are broken into manageable chunks throughout the week so that I’m not sitting at my desk on a Thursday night crying my heart out realizing I don’t have any sources for my 10-page-long research paper. One more thing, double your estimated working/studying periods; you will work slower than you expect.

Sincerely,

Alex

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