Survival Tips

High school can be tough, so here are some suggested survival tips to get you through these four years.

Community service – The earlier you start doing service projects and getting hours, the better. But keep track of those hours. With them you will have more options for both college and job applications.

Clubs and Extracurriculars – There are over 40 clubs at RHS. Be in a community of students interested in similar ideas or activities, and show involvement in your community on your resume and college applications.

Undertake a leadership position – Besides making your applications stand out, having a leadership position will prepare you to handle more responsibilities as you head towards graduation.

Get required courses out of the way – Take your athletic credit, foreign language and speech credits early so you can take more electives later and not worry about necessary credits.

Create a four year plan – Plan courses ahead of time to fill requirements for graduation. Try to take challenging classes for your core academic subjects and see if AP classes are for you.

Second languages – Get your two required electives of foreign language started by junior year, unless you want to graduate with ‘distinguished’ honors. Then you’ll need three credits. Spanish, French, Latin and ASL are available in all levels including Pre-AP and AP.

Take the PSAT – When you are a junior, you will be able to qualify for scholarships and awards, so prepare and be ready to achieve a high score. After you get your score back, start using resources like Khan Academy to begin preparing for next year’s PSAT.

Use Naviance – Believe it or not, this can be very helpful. It’s a great way to learn about your choice sheet classes and colleges. You can take multiple tests to figure out what is the best fit for you, career wise and college wise.

Prerequisites – Take classes that are prerequisites for the classes you’d like to take your junior and senior years. There are prerequisites for classes such as health sciences, AP art and calculus.

SAT/ACT – Take your SAT or ACT junior year, so you already have a score for when you apply to college. Early admissions are usually due by Nov. 1.

Get college credit – The more college credits you can receive in high school, the better, since you’d have to pay for the same classes in college. College classes are expensive. Junior and senior year can get hectic with classes, college admissions and whatnot, so take AP and Pre-AP classes your freshman and sophomore years.

Take your junior year seriously – The grades and work you do your junior year are very important and can raise or lower your senior year GPA and class rank.

Find a college – The earlier you figure out where you want to go to college, the more time you’ve got a chance to cater towards what they need or want.