I will always remember my first year of high school. It was a completely new experience. When I walked through the gates of FVHS on the first day, I made a promise to myself that I would put my best effort into my schoolwork. My goal was to pass all of my classes with straight A’s. However, that didn’t go as planned. I was overwhelmed by the amount of work I had for school, along with extracurricular activities. By the end of first semester, I was hanging on by a thread. My grades were on the brink between a B and a C. I had missed about a week of school due to being sick and was struggling to catch up. I always prided myself on my ability to defeat procrastination, but with all of the upcoming tests, projects, and competitions, I lost all motivation. It went downhill from there. I made it through the rest of the year exhausted and stressed. 

During the summer of 2023, I learned a very important skill: time management. Since school was out, I had all the time in the world, so I needed to decide what to do with it. I started a list of things I wanted to accomplish over the next three months: go shopping with my friends, watch the new Barbie movie, practice piano, finish my summer homework, etc. I ordered the list from most to least important and created a schedule based off of it. I made sure to balance the things I wanted and didn’t want to do. Even though summer assignments were my first priority, I waited until August to complete them so I wouldn’t forget the content I learned once school started. I planned to hang out with my family and friends during the first few months instead. Then, I set goals for each day of the week. Every day, I tried to practice for at least an hour and complete one section of my homework. Managing my time helped me feel productive and relaxed throughout the summer, so I hope to apply the same method during my sophomore year.