High school—it’s both the best and arguably worst time of your life. 

From friendships and graduation requirements to simply surviving the day-to-day grind, these 22 Venice High seniors offer their insight on how to not just survive but thrive all four years of your high school experience.

On Extracurricular Activities and Social Life

1. Ann Watkins—“It’s okay to not always fit in or have a solid group of friends. Don’t get caught up on the small friend stuff like drama and picking sides. Just enjoy the good moments, let the tough ones teach you a lesson, and then just let them go.”

2. Arianna Flournoy “Don’t just join random clubs, join clubs you know you will actually be active in.”

3. Eden Grant—“Don’t procrastinate and find a system that will benefit you. Also, find clubs that relate to you and if there aren’t any, make your own.”

4. Ranee Jayne Sy—“I would say that you need to seize every opportunity. Don’t be shy to join clubs, be part of after-school activities, and go to school events. If you try out as many things as you can, you’ll make your high school years more meaningful.”

5. Aleea Bruno—“It’s important not to waste your time on pleasing people and changing yourself to make people like you. You will find the people you’re meant to have in your life naturally.”

6. Elijah Johnson—“Everyone that you come into high school with isn’t going to always remain your friend(s) for the entirety of your time there. You just gotta learn to adapt, meet new people, and not be scared to do so.”

On College Apps

7. Alexandra Buckley—“Start working on building up your list of achievements and extracurriculars early on for college apps, because a lot of colleges like to see that people have dedicated a lot of hours over a long period of time to things rather than a bunch during senior year.”

8. Jualeyia Holland—“I honestly wish I had the college talk and realized how important your GPA really is before senior year.”

9. Yuri Choi—“Make connections with teachers! Nothing bad will come out of it and it’ll definitely help when the time comes for teachers’ letters of recommendation.”

10. Arely Ocampo Bartolo—“Get your college apps at least two weeks before the deadline because if not, you’ll be stressed when the website crashes every four minutes.”

On Education and Graduating from High School

11. Amaya Jackson—“Nobody looks after you…as well as you look after yourself. No matter how many counselors, teachers, or staff there are, if you don’t educate yourself on what’s best for you, no one will in high school.”

12. Alejandra Marroquin– “Grades and academic success don’t define you. It’s okay to put yourself first and don’t stress, and chai lattes are the bomb.”

13. Joshua Martinez—” Learn the school system—how it works, learn the tricks and the way to maneuver it. It doesn’t always have to be about being 100 percent intelligent.”

14. Denise De León—“Realize how important it is to apply for a scholarship early.”

15. Leslie Dominguez—“Find out the things you can get for graduation, like how to get certain medals or sashes to receive on graduation day.”

16. Evelyn Lamond—“Even though the workload is different from middle school, it’s manageable and reasonable. You will find a groove and academics won’t overwhelm you if you have a system and make connections with other students who can help you.”

High School Experience

17. Miles Davies- “What is expected of you changes a lot.”

18. Brianna Martinez—“Some advice I would’ve wanted before coming into high school would be how many schools would take on your mental health. It’s nice to have resources at hand to be able to reach out to or ways to deal with your mental health.”

19. D’lila Lemus- “Just live in the moment because everything works out in the end.”

20. Daniel Tachiki- “Don’t compare yourself to other students. It can be easy to feel bad because you’re not doing as well as others but everyone learns at different paces.”

21. Natalie Gurzeler- “Understand that it’s ok to not know what to expect when you first get here. Lots of people have this notion in the back of their mind that high school is going to be like the movies or what they see on social media, but the truth is there are going to be slow and difficult days the same way there are going to be fun and exciting ones. Friends can and will change and it’s important to establish the balance between socializing but also getting your work done so you can have fun, you’ll really thank yourself that you stayed on top of your classes.”

22. Joaquin Rivas—“Don’t overthink everything. At the end of the day you’re gonna waste your time doing it.”