McCallion
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Surviving Middle School-5 Simple Rules for Survival                

 by: Emma Whitmell, Editor

 Hey….. You there, in front of the computer. So you’re five months into your first year at middle school. To get through the next year and a half (or the next two and a half years), you’re going to have to learn the basic rules of survival of middle school life. To survive there are five rules that must be followed if you want to get through middle school without too much trouble and heartache. 

1.  The first rule that will make a HUGE difference in surviving middle school is: Don’t turn into a procrastinator. NEVER leave your homework to the last minute!

Procrastination and laziness will eventually lead to panic attacks while you’re sitting in front of the computer at 11 o’clock, staring at a blank screen. Always start your projects, reports, whatever your teachers have assigned you, early. That way you’re not in a panic the day before because you’ve already finished the work. And because you didn’t have to rush to finish it, your work will be of far better quality. By not leaving your work until the last minute, you’re saving yourself from a lot of stress and low marks. If you’re planning to get into Cawthra, the IB programme at Graydon or Glenforest, then a  good work ethic and decent marks are a must. 

2.  Don’t do anything that’s completely dumb and pointless.

Picking fights with other students will get you nowhere but to the office. Nobody wins in the end and all you’ll end up with is a reputation or, worse, a suspension. Never wear something that goes completely against the dress code. You’re just asking to be sent home, and I’m sure your parents won’t exactly be delighted to have to come and pick you up. Overall, just try to stick to the rules of the school and you’ll be fine. 

3.  Pay attention when a teacher is talking.

I know sometimes it seems that they’re just repeating themselves and going on and on, but believe me, sometimes you miss something extremely important about a project or an experiment, and you end up losing marks or hurting someone. You especially don’t want to end up coming to school and finding out that you have an important test that day and you didn’t know about it. 

4.  Participate, when you can, in extra curricular activities.

No matter what you like, at Hazel there’s probably a club for it. If you like sports, you can try out for the various school teams. Playing against other schools with your friends is awesome. Or, if you don’t manage to make a school team, you can always volunteer to play for your class in the class tournaments. No matter what you choose, you’ll have fun. If you’re more into writing, you can become part of the online magazine, which is what you’re looking at now. Art club, aerobics club, bowling club, running club, ski days, volleyball team, basketball team, talent show, band….. the list goes on and on. Students at Hazel have only one major problem with extra curricular activities…the only problem is deciding which ones to join! 

5. And finally, have fun. Enjoy your two or three years of middle school.

You should enjoy what time you do have, because as you move to higher and higher grades, you start getting a lot more and a lot harder work. I’m not trying to scare you, I’m just telling you that school will probably take up more and more time as you progress into higher grades. So when you can, make time, hang out with your friends and have fun. You’re only this age once, and time flies. 

Probably the most important thing to remember if you want to survive middle school is the balance between school and your social life. If you can find the balance, middle school suddenly won’t seem nearly so hard as people make it out to be.