Growing up in a generation surrounded by technology, you learn to love it and hate it at times. The idea that anything you post on social media websites is for all to see can easily drive people away from social media. It’s important for students to understand that social media is a great resource when used carefully. I talk from experience since I was able to reconnect with a lot of my friends and family on Facebook. 

It’s amazing how important social media is in bringing people together. From reconnecting to family all the way to learning, social media provides a lot of resources and the amazing ability to express your thoughts on the internet. I just say use it wisely and remember that something you post now can come back to haunt you later, possibly at your dream job interview. I always say, “If you post something that you feel like you need to hide from your parents, then what makes you think jobs won’t find it.” Social media is a beautiful thing if used wisely.

As I tell my little sister, who is currently a Sophomore in High School, do what makes you happy. Now let me elaborate on what I mean by that. Part of being a student requires us to attend classes, do our homework, study for tests and quizzes, and then, do it all over again. That is our job as a student, which we must complete and excel at. However, not everything is set in stone. There are many extracurricular activities that you can get involved in, at school or outside of school.

High school should be a time to discover your passion, and if you already have one, then dive into it. Get involved. Discover new things by joining clubs or branching out. Always work hard. That's what I would change. I would have became well rounded early on so that I had discovered my passions and followed it throughout college. 

Proceeding forward with a sense of purpose and determination makes it easier to enjoy your college experience as well. You avoid the stressors of uncertainty about your major, minor, and the ultimate question: What do I want to do with my life.

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I am not ashamed of my high school career and I have no regrets, but if I knew what I know now, I would have changed a few things. The first thing I would have changed is my work ethic. I was a procrastinator and I was lazy. I never studied, but I fortunately passed with pretty good grades. If I put the amount of effort I put into my work now into the work I did when I was in high school I could’ve probably been valedictorian.

You have a hard decision to make as a teenager in high school. Being with your friends and having fun all the time may seem appealing at the moment, but remember that school is an investment for your future. 

High school is such an important time in a young person’s life.  It’s during this stage where you truly start to grow up as you are no longer looked at as a child, but a young adult, taking steps towards a better future.  I really enjoyed my time in high school, however, looking back on my high school years, there are a few things I would definitely do differently.  First off, I would have joined more clubs and participated in more extracurricular activities.  High school is a once in a life time experience, and the four years fly by.  It is very important to enjoy this time, and meet new people.  

 Looking back at high school now, all I can think is that I came a tremendously long way! I honestly do miss high school a lot. Those were the good days. Classes were easier, the homework workload was nothing as crazy compared to college,  you had more free time and less stress. Being in college now though made me realize if I could go back, I would change certain things. 

Being only a sophomore at the University at Albany, I am have only been out of high school for a year and a half. With that said, my high school years are still fresh in my mind. Reflecting back on my high school years, I have come to one conclusion: I was extremely immature. You may believe that the only reason why I am saying this is because I am older and more mature, which may actually be true. Regardless of my reasoning though, the fact still remains that my mindset during my high school years was not of one prepared to enter adulthood.

Looking back at my high school years, I wished that I put more effort into my schoolwork. Especially during my freshman and sophomore years, I knew that I was capable of achieving and maintaining Honor Roll status (85+ GPA) without putting in much effort. I slacked off and only did enough to obtain the 85 average. The only time that I truly put full effort in school was around Regents exams because I felt that Regents exams were the only thing that was important enough to study for. While my lack of work ethic did not prevent me for achieving my goal of being an Honor Roll student, I developed some poor study habits which affected me during my junior and senior years, as well as in college. Thankfully, I was able to fight through these habits to excel as I began taking SAT Prep classes, AP classes, and college courses. Another negative impact of slacking off in my early years of high school is that it kept me from attaining a higher GPA and making myself a much more competitive college applicant my senior year. Don’t get me wrong, attending the University at Albany is one of the best decisions I have made in my life but I probably would have had more options of schools to attend if I worked harder throughout my high school career.

I loved high school. Experiences that endured during my high school years are what made me the person I am today. But that does not mean that I was not incredibly immature during high school. Kevin Durant said it best when he said “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”

 Looking back on my high school years, there isn't a whole lot that I would want to change.  I did well in school, got into the college I wanted, and had (and for that matter still have) a really great group of friends.  However, one thing that I would have done differently is put more commitment into my athletics.  I was a very solid athlete, but I feel that if I had applied myself more outside of practice that I would have been able to elevate myself even more. 

During high school, I was a very rebellious student. Although I always achieved high grades and performed well in class, I was the student that was constantly out of uniform or late to school. This led to some issues as I was going into my senior year of high school. I wanted to get into "Senior Institute," which was a cohort of the twelfth grade that took honors and advanced placement courses. Because I was constantly disobeying school rules, I was not automatically admitted into Senior Institute; I had to write an appeal to go with my nomination. I wrote my appeal and was able to get into SI under the conditions that I followed all school rules during my senior year. I am thankful that I was granted this opportunity because I believe that it put me in a good place for getting into colleges. If I could go back, I would change my attendance. I now follow the motto, "early is on time, on time is late, late is unacceptable." Being punctual is a small thing that says a lot about your preparedness as an individual.

Looking back at my high school experience I would not have changed anything. I did everything I was suppose to do in order to get a high GPA. I participated in many clubs and hung out with my friends everyday during after school - since we we're all in the same club. I have had some of the most memorable experiences all throughout my high school years and I honestly wouldn't want to redo or change anything.

To the shock and dismay of many people I really enjoyed my 4 years in high school. I made friends who I can surely say will be my friends for the rest of my life and I learned many life lessons that I will forever carry with me. But If I could change anything it would be in my senior year of high school. Towards the end of senior year I began to get lazy and slacked in my college process. 

Although I successfully made it to college, because of minor mistakes I didn't allow myself as many opportunities as I could have. I could've certainly applied to more universities or at least looked into more options. My advice to students who are in high school right now would be to take senior year and the college process very seriously. Many people joke about senioritis, but this joke is in fact a truly serious matter. Colleges still look at your senior year transcripts and can use these final grades to determine your entry. If I could've put more efforts into my senior year I'm sure things would've hashed out a bit differently for me.

Looking back at my high school years, I wish I spent more time with my father more. I never really liked him as a person, so I didn't appreciate the few good things he did for me back then. He would bring my out to these social gatherings to make connections and often tried to teach me the violin. Unfortunately, he has dementia now and he can't remember who I am unless I remind him I'm his son. 

Looking back during my high school years...

If I had an opportunity to go back and change anything I did in high school I would've put in a greater effort. In high school according to the numbers I was a "scholar", but it wasn't as if I was putting in hours of studying or preparation, especially senior year. That was the year in my opinion I made my greatest mistakes as far as academics are concerned. I was taking a calculus class and because I didn't need it to graduate I simply did not care, I wish I didn't have this mindset because the same concepts I was learning in that high school class I revisited in college calculus and had to play catch up. 

Looking back at my high school years, I would go back and change my freshmen year. Even though this may seem unlikely, but I was one of those students who skipped classes constantly during my freshmen year of high school and decided that my time was better spent staying home or hanging out. I would change this because skipping class took a huge toll on my GPA and forced me to play catch up during my sophomore, junior, and senior years.  This regret really hit me, when no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t rank 3rd place in my graduating class and believe me I tried really hard. 

However, I did graduate 4th in my class, but to me I sold myself short knowing that I deserved 3rd place and my lack of interest in school freshmen year was to blame. Besides destroying my GPA, my absence in school freshmen year did not help nurture the friendships that I could have gained. Surprisingly not, most valuable relationships are created during your freshmen year of high school and because I wasn’t around I couldn’t foster those relationships and had to feel like the new kid on the block during my sophomore year.

What I would have done differently now, would have been to take my freshmen year of high school seriously and take advantage of meeting new friends and actually enjoying my first year as a high school student. In my opinion high school was fun and missing out on my freshmen year shortened the amount of growth I could have attained both educationally and personally. I cannot take this mistake back, but I will admit that I learned a lot from this mistake. Overall, the effects of skipping class during my freshmen year of high school taught me some lifetime lessons. One of the lessons I learned is to value my education and the second lesson was derived from realizing that everything you do in life has an impact on your future and how the people around you pass judgment on yourself and your potential.

My final piece of advice, is to take your high school experience seriously. High school is one step closer to getting to college and becoming an adult. Misusing this opportunity to learn about yourself and who you want to be will delay your growth and your opportunity to be inspired. In addition, old habits die hard, so it would be best that you use high school as the stepping stone that will start shaping you into the person you want to be, instead of a period of regression that shapes you into a person you don’t recognize and into a person that is far away from reaching their dreams. 

To be honest, even though I have Facebook, Instagram, tumblr and many other social sites, I feel like the use of social media should be very limited. There are many negatives to using social media and many of us know that. For one, most of these social media sites that majority of the people use are to be noisy and for some, be a show off. 

Most relationships now a days ends because one girl liked her ex picture or some girl liked another guys picture who was in a relationship. Facebook is only creating more problems because now you can see who liked what and if the person read your message and just ignored it. I honestly feel that all of these new features that are being added to many sites are just to start problems. 

Even though there are more negatives than positives about social media, keeping in contact with old friends is the only real positive thing to this whole new system of social media. I don't think social media brings people together because at the end of the day no one knows who is behind that computer screen claiming to be that person you are talking to. Social media only keeps us from interacting with each other which in terms breaks up bonds and relationships.

What advice would you give to students regarding social media?

My advice in regards to social media is to be careful on what you post. Always think about what you post. If you don’t want your grandma to see it, don’t post it. Many times, your bosses will search you up and whatever is online, will come up under your name. They will see something they don’t like and they will most likely not hire you.

What are the positives? What are the negatives?

The positives on social media is that it can help you communicate with people and be able to truly meet them, and see how they are really are. The negatives is that  social media sites might not always show you the other person’s true self and it can cause some major drama in peoples lives.

Does it truly bring people together?

I do believe it can bring people together as well as separate them. You have to know how to use it correctly. For example, because of Facebook, my dad was able to find his long lost brother that he has never met before. Now they are inseparable.