A New Student's Guide To Confidence

05/26/2021

Hello new Yorkies!

Having been a new student recently, I know that however exciting being a new student might be, it always comes paired with a plethora of nerves. If this sounds familiar, you’ve come to the right place.

The good news for you is that I have been a new student four times and I have made all the mistakes a new student can make, so you don’t have to. Upon reflection of these mistakes, I have compiled a list of five tips to help you feel more confident on your first day, and to have a more successful start to your career at The York School!

Welcome to… A New Student’s Guide to Confidence!

Step 1. Get to know your buddy!

One of the ways The York School is set apart from other schools is that all new students are assigned a buddy! Your buddy is a York School student of your same grade, who is there to help guide you through your first few weeks of school. Your buddy will reach out to you a few weeks before school starts, allowing you the time to ask any questions you may have, whether they’re about school, uniforms, clubs, social life, etc (all covered in The Stand articles btw 😉). I also suggest you go out and grab a coffee together! This will allow you to have an established friendship with a peer before your first day, which will make a big difference, trust me.

Step 2. Be as social as possible at orientation day

The day before school officially starts, the school hosts orientation day where all the new students, ambassadors, and some higher-ups get together to set up your computer, play icebreaker games, and most importantly, get you acquainted with your fellow new students!

By the way, it’s only natural to be nervous on orientation day. Just remember though: everyone is in the same boat. So here’s my advice… be as social as possible! This will help with two things.

Firstly, it will allow you to meet more people.
Secondly, it will make others around you feel more comfortable and open.

Plus, you never know… friendships formed on orientation day could last a lifetime! I know some of mine will :) Finally, you could look at orientation day as practice for the real first day, if you practice faking your confidence on orientation day, you’ll feel so much better for the real deal!

Step 3. Before school starts, reach out to your teachers!

This one is a very simple one, but it truly does go far. All you have to do is reach out to your teachers once you get your timetable, and introduce yourself! Tell them a little bit about you and why you’re excited to begin their class. Make sure you make it your own! If you really want to take it there, ask them for the first topic they’ll be covering (more on this in step 5). This will help with three things:

It will show your teacher that you are an eager learner who takes initiative. This will make you stand out from the other students.
Starting off the year with an eager-to-learn attitude will trick your brain into thinking you love school, thus could lead you to better class engagement and better results!
You’ll feel as though you have already built a rapport with your teacher before school starts, which will make the daunting first-day class entrances that much less daunting.

Now remember, the goal here is not to brown-nose the teachers, rather it is to get you to feel the most confident and prepared on your first day.

Step 4. Get organized

On orientation day, Mr Medved will take you through setting up your computer, however, I suggest taking the extra step in getting organized. This can include creating folders on your desktop for each subject and their respective units in which you will store all of your work/documents for easy and offline access. You can also add productivity softwares or extensions on your computer, to ensure a procrastination-free year! Some of my favourite include:

Pause extension (free): Whenever you open any distracting websites, a green screen will appear for 5 seconds, which allows you to think about whether you really should open the site.
WorkFlow extension (free): Through a blacklist or a whitelist, you can block certain websites or only allow certain websites. You can also time your work sessions and breaks
FocusMe soft ($9 CAD monthly/ $55 CAD yearly/ $110 CAD every 3 years): Can be simple or advanced, but simply put, you can create automatic daily “plans” in which certain websites/apps/entire internet is blocked between certain hours of the day.
For more extensions/apps, go to https://freedom.to/blog/8-website-blockers-for-studying-productivity-focus/
Notebook app (free): Create ‘notebooks’ for different subjects/topics/anything you want! Within the notebooks, you can create stickies with different to-do lists and tasks.

Step 5 - be proactive!

Finally, and potentially the most annoying tip: rEaD AhEAd. I know, I know. It sucks. But hear me out! As I suggested in step 3, asking your teacher in your introductory email what they’ll first be teaching so you can read ahead will offer you immense confidence on your first day. Back to the reading ahead thing, I do not mean heavy-duty studying; the goal is to have a good grasp on the content so that:

You prepared going into class, which will help build confidence on your first day
You’ll probably ace your first test, which will encourage you to maintain good study habits and pursue a successful academic career.

If you really want to commit, a great way tip is to always stay one unit ahead in your most difficult courses, so you always feel at ease and confident with the content you’re tested on because you’ve had time to study and digest the information.

There you have it! Those were my five tips on how to grab those nerves by the horns and take charge of your social and academic success at York. My last piece of advice munchkins: nerves are necessary! They’ll ensure you’re focused and that you crush it on your first day.

Best of luck, Yorkies!

Clara

Written By Clara Partrat