I can’t remember my first day of high school, but I do remember getting ready for it. Specifically, I remember spending six hours on the phone with my BFF, planning what we were going to wear on that first day.

I might remind you — and show my age here — that we sat on the phone for hours in a time before call-waiting. It was also before cordless phones (at least in my house), so I was limited to however far I could stretch the kitchen phone cord. I do recall hanging up once to call Domino’s and order a pizza. Then I called her right back.

"What would high school be like?" we wondered. "Who would we meet? Would we like them? Would they like us?"

We dissected our first-day outfits — off-the-shoulder sweaters (as risqué as you could get at a private Christian high school), stonewashed jeans, oversize silver hoop earrings and brown lace-up boots. We discussed boys. We pondered our vast choices of extracurricular activities. Never once did we mention the whole point of high school: academics. Oh no, we had far more important things on our minds.

I might be pretty far removed from high school, but somehow I suspect that today’s high school freshman isn’t all that different. And my best guess is that the advice freshmen are getting is about the same:

“These will be the best years of your life.”

“You will remember this forever.”

“High school is so carefree. Enjoy it.”

I’m here to offer some different advice because, frankly, those things aren’t necessarily true.

Sure, high school is a time of maximum freedom and minimum responsibility for a lot of teens. But the best years of your life? It’s pretty depressing to think that you still have 60 or more years to go after you’ve peaked. Rather, I think that high school is a time in your life — not the time of your life. It can be great, it can be good, it can be downright miserable. Most likely, it will be all three. The point is, there’s life beyond high school.

That’s why my second piece of advice is: Remember why you’re there. Crack a book every so often. Make friends with the librarian (who is a good person to have in your corner). If your GPA plummets freshman year, you’ll be climbing an uphill battle for the rest of high school. And college doesn’t let you in just because you want to be there. You have to make them want you.

My third piece of advice comes with a side helping of cliché: Bloom where you’re planted. Don’t like the teacher? Learn how to deal with it now, because there’s a darned good chance you won’t like your boss someday. Does your class schedule stink? Here’s the great news: It will be over in a few months. Don’t know how you will ever use geometry in real life? Confession: This is the first time I’ve used the term “obtuse triangle” since before you were born. I have no use for geometry in real life. But what geometry did teach me was how to learn — and that’s a skill I’ll take to the grave.

My fourth and final bit of advice is this: You’re all in the same boat. Feeling scared?
Self-conscious? Overwhelmed? You and every other kid in your freshman class. Some are better at hiding it, but if everyone were being honest — class president and captain of the cheerleading squad included — they would all admit to being less than confident. That’s what you get in exchange for wrinkles and gray hair: confidence. As long as you don’t need Botox or Clairol quite yet, you cannot be expected to be fully secure in yourself.

The high school years come with a steep learning curve on socialization: You are developing and forming relationships in ways you never did before. There are bound to be missteps. You will probably lose a friend or two as you each begin to figure out who you are and what makes you tick.

Do yourself one favor. Treat other people in a way you can be proud of. Doesn’t matter if you don’t like them. Doesn’t matter if they’re ugly, smelly or talk funny. Treat them as you would anyone else.

After all, they’re riding the same roller coaster as you — but maybe their seat belt just isn’t on tight enough.

Elizabeth Davies writes for the Rockford Register Star in Rockford, Ill.