9 Insane Sophomore Year of High School Tips To Have The Best Year

Sophomore year of high school is often treated as a forgotten year. These 9 tips will ensure that your school year is memorable and productive.

High school can pass by in a blur, even though the days may feel long. It's important to take the time to maximize your potential while you have the time and resources.

I know it can be difficult to balance all of the chaos of high school, but it truly is a great time to begin getting your life together. It doesn't have to be super intense or draining, but there are a ton of things you can do to make life easier.

Sophomore year of high school specifically is a great time to do this. You're not a freshman anymore so you're a little more adjusted to high school, but you're also not super stressed with standardized tests and/or college like juniors and seniors.

All of the ideas below are meant to make your life just a little bit easier.

This post is all about vital tips for your sophomore year of high school.

Sophomore Year of High School

1. Setting Goals

Starting any year is a great opportunity to start setting goals. And, it's a great time to reassess your priorities. While sophomore can seem like a throw-away year it's actually a vital year in your high school experiences. Both sophomore and freshman years are foundational years of high school. However, sophomore year is unique because you have a slightly more structured view of what you want for your future.

If you don't, don't panic. This just means that you should spend time brainstorming what you want. Sit down for a while and ask yourself questions about what makes you feel passionate or happy. What do you want for your life? Or at least for the next few years? Think about your life as far in advance as feels possible without being overwhelming.

When you have a rough outline of what you want, take the time to start setting SMART goals. If you haven't heard of this before, this means setting goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. Whenever you're goal-setting, you want to make sure that your goals fall into these categories, for them to be the most effective.

2. Extracurricular Activities in High School

Sophomore is the time to either start narrowing your extracurriculars if you're doing too many, or bulking them up if you're doing too little. If you're wondering what counts as "too. many" or "too little", I would say you want to make sure you're doing things that you are fully passionate about and that you have enough time and energy to healthily and meaningfully contribute to all of them.

This can help you find out what you truly want to be doing. Your extracurriculars don't have to represent something you want to do for the rest of your life. It's okay if it's just something you're passionate about not a career choice.

Take the time to figure out what gets you excited about doing work and putting in effort. Then devote your time and energy towards it. Just make sure you don't overload yourself with a ton of random activities that you don't enjoy. Pick a few things and try to make yourself stand out in them rather than doing a million miscellaneous activities.

3. Explore Your Interests and Hobbies

This is similar to the point above. However. it differs slightly. You want to explore and develop your interest, specifically if you feel like there's nothing you're really passionate about. Take the time to try new things while you still have the time.

This can be anything. I would recommend looking up random niche hobbies and trying them if you feel like all of the mainstream hobbies aren't your thing. Finding these hobbies and nurturing them early is a vital part of your sophomore year of high school. When exploring hobbies as opposed to extracurriculars, you want to make sure you're considering things outside of your high school.

Look at organizations/ programs in your local community or find something that's completely outside of your community. Extracurriculars in your high school are limited to what your school offers, but when you're exploring your opportunities you can do anything. Take advantage of the range of freedom and don't limit yourself.

4. Sophomore Slump

The Sophomore Slump! This typically hits sophomores right around mid-year to the end of the school year. It's definitely normal because school can be so draining. The most important things to remember here are:

• Make sure to implement self-care systems

Unfortunately, if you're a sophomore feeling the slump, you've still got 3 years left to go. Take advantage of the time you have to implement self-care systems, whether that's picking 1 day a week when you don't do any work. Or finding ways to incorporate more fun into your day-to-day life. Figure out what works to help you destress and make it a routine or habit.

• Find something to look forward to/something to ground you

Again you've still got 2 years. Pick something to look forward to, whether that's a friend's birthday, or a holiday/vacation. Or choose something that grounds you in the present moment. This can be one of the passions you've discovered or even just meaningful relationships in your life. Use this along with healthy self-care practices to ground you in your life experiences.

5. Summer Opportunites

One of the best things you can do either the summer before or after your sophomore year, is take advantage of summer opportunities. Again, I would recommend that this is still centered around your hobby or passion that you've chosen extracurriculars around. Spend your time developing whatever skill, talent, or action captivates you.

There are so many summer programs out there, whether they're based in universities or they're completely separate. Take the time and put in the effort to research what summer programs are available and which ones actually pique your interest. Use this information to compile a list of programs you want to either apply for or sign up for.

6. Build Relationships with Teachers

Sophomore year is a great time to build relationships with teachers, coaches, and school staff. You're not a freshman anymore, so your face isn't new to people, but this gives you a lot of time to build relationships before you begin the college process. If you need adults in your school as support during the college process these relationships can be really helpful.

Also, it's good to have people at school to turn to when life gets difficult in high school. Building a solid support system in high school is vital to having a beneficial experience. Having trustworthy, reliable adults you can count on is paramount to that community.

Again, this doesn't just have to be teachers, take a few extra minutes out of your day to talk to a staff member you always see, or to get to know that English teacher you find inspiring.

7. Career Exploration

Don't let this scare you. At this point in your high school career and your life, the idea of career exploration should be exciting. You don't have to have everything figured out right now. This section is mainly here to get career exploration on your mind. Career exploration can go hand in hand with exploring extracurriculars and finding your hobbies. But it doesn't have to.

If your school has a career fair, take the time to attend it. And, if not search for any career fairs in your city or nearby high schools. If you really can't find any career fair anywhere, then I would recommend searching online. There are so many resources to see what people do day-to-day in their field of work online.

Spend some time browsing through these resources, even if it's just for fun with your friends. It's never too early to be exposed to all of the different job opportunities out there. Capitalize on the time and momentum you have right now.

8. College Planning

Again, don't let this scare you. The idea of college can be anxiety-inducing for a lot of people, but the process is also really exciting. Before you're fully entrenched in the stress and mayhem of it all, take the time to explore all of the opportunities you have.

Spend time thinking about whether you'd like a big school or a smaller one. Consider which colleges are more stem-focused and which ones are more humanities or arts-focused. Do you want to be close to home or super far? There are a ton of little, less stressful things about college to figure out. Take some time while it's new and exciting to ponder these questions.

Also if you want to go to a more selective school now would be the time to look up all of the things you can do to get ahead. It can take a lot of time and planning, so you want to make sure you're as prepared as possible.

9. Preparing for Junior Year

This is for if you're ending your sophomore year. Junior is the big year everybody talks about in high school. Going into the junior year with careful planning and consideration can help it feel more manageable and stress-free. Use the summer to get ahead, whether that's with summer programs, summer jobs, or anything else.

Take the time to implement healthy routines and habits that will serve you well during the school year. This can be getting your sleep schedule together, eating healthier, or coming up with study strategies you feel are most effective for you.

At the end of the day, you're the only person who knows exactly what you need. Take the time to figure out what that is and make it a part of your life in order to provide yourself with more structure during the year.

This post was all about sophomore year of high school tips.

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