After 79 days of summer, the school year kicks off Monday, Aug. 24. Here’s a few things you should know to be prepared for the first day.

School starts at 8:45 a.m. Give yourself ample time to find a parking space and your first class. If you’re new, showing up a little early can help you navigate campus and figure out where P-801 really is.

Check the signs for your first period. Even if you picked up your schedule last week, that was just a tentative schedule and there’s a chance it changed. Stop by the signs posted in the cafeteria, R or front trophy case and verify your first period class. All students’ first periods will be listed by their ID number.

All students should report to their home campus. Regardless if you’re ACC, ROTC or sub-campus, you still need to go to your home campus the first day.

A yellow schedule is an official schedule. You should receive it in your first period class. The white schedule you received in August was just a tentative schedule.

Only immediate schedule problems will be handled the first day. Don’t like the elective you chose? That’s not really the immediate concern. Don’t have a fourth period class? Now, that’s a problem. Counselors will only handle schedule problems that include missing a class, course you already passed, class you don’t have the prerequisite or missing core class. The issues will be listed by your first period teacher on a form. If you haven’t received a corrected schedule by the time that class occurs, you may report to the guidance office. If you want an elective change, you’ll have to wait till Friday to request the change. Elective change forms will be available in the guidance office.

Bring last year’s ID. New IDs won’t be issued until Sept. 3-4 so you’ll need last year’s ID to check out textbooks and buy lunch. If you’re a freshman, new or transfer student, memorize your ID number so you’ll be able to provide it in the cafeteria and textbook room.

Give your parents the first day packet. There will be a few papers handed out in first period, including a school calendar, yearbook and picture day order forms, and free and reduced lunch. Make sure to give these to your parents and fill them out. In addition, there are forms online at txConnect that need to be filled out. This includes your enrollment form, a residency questionnaire, a health and allergy form, student direction information and other relevant forms.

There is no Advocate the first two days. With all the craziness of the start of the year, we’ll skip Advocate the first two days and be on regular bell schedule. Advocate will start up again Wednesday and will return as a daily 45-minute period. To see the bell schedule, click here.

Consider bringing a lunch. With 2,500 expected students and only three 30-minute lunch periods, it’s going to be a tight squeeze in the cafeteria. If you can, bring lunch with you so you can avoid the long lines.