No one wants to regret anything in life, especially in high school. When looking back, you hope to feel that you’ve achieved something of great importance rather than wasting time trying to cut class. Four years of high school is all you get to make something for yourself.

Possibility of Increasing Talent and Knowledge
High school can be the starting point towards a future filled with great potential. So it’s important to choose, as a freshman, electives that you feel will be enjoyable enough to continue into the latter years of high school. For instance, if you feel that being surrounded by rhythm is your thing, then you might want to get, band, guitar, chorus, or keyboard.
If you do end up liking your first electives, it’s important to stick with them all the way to the advanced level. “Why?” you ask? Firstly, you want to make sure you get that elective credit since it is a requirement, and you should get that out of the way.
More importantly, by sticking with these classes, you can become an expert at your craft. What I mean by that is being able to sound like a pro when playing an instrument, or being able to sight read every piece of music you get without having to go note by note by note.
This goes for other classes as well. For those of you who like art, and you feel that it gives you some sort of relaxed vibe, then I encourage you take those classes. If you feel that becoming a grease monkey is more of your preference, then automotive gives you the opportunity to leave high school with an ASE certification which looks real good on a future resume.
What I’m trying to say is, if you have a general idea of where your interests lie, then you want to stick to those classes all four years.
In my case, I did not do this. I tended to jump around from subject to subject just because I would get somewhat good at one thing, then get bored, and go to the next subject. However, I know now that if I were to stick with guitar, which I took in 10th grade, I would most likely be playing covers of a lot of popular songs or composing my own by now.
Although not a huge regret, but more of a, “Man, if I would’ve stuck with this” type scenario, I want to make sure others after me are more decisive than I was about sticking to an elective.
However, people who are like me — not sure of what they want to do, or who get bored really fast—then don’t worry. You’ll find out what you like eventually. Just make sure to take a 2nd year of one class you found to be particularly fun, and then you can switch around your other electives however you want.
I’ve gone from automotive, to drama, to computers, until finally stopping at music and art in my junior year. So it’s OK to play around with the electives; just make sure to improve yourself every day. You may end up liking the subject more than you might have thought.

Some Things I learned in 4 Years
Although there were some points in time where I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do in high school, I eventually came to the decision to do a little bit of everything. You might say, “Dude, didn’t you just say to have some type of focus on the things you find the most enjoyable?” And to that I say, yes I did. But what happens to be my blessing and curse, is the fact that I enjoy participating in many activities. I can’t contain myself from jumping from one subject to another. So I thought to myself, the only way to do everything is to actually learn everything – all that I can, at least.
However, I didn’t decide to take up a huge project and just learn everything at once like some brain memory athlete. I took it slow. One class at a time, one year at a time across all types of mediums.
In 10th grade, I took up networking to learn about computers, and the basics of how the internet works. Subsequently, I learned about graphics cards, core processors, and how other pieces of equipment help improve computer functionality. I even learned how to make sure I was getting data packets when I pinged a signal to my IP address. I took this class into 11th grade, where I finally earned a Microsoft certification for networking. With this new knowledge, I was able to solve most computer problems I had at home without spending a dime on the Geek Squad.
In the 11th Grade, the realization of how music and art put me into a relaxed state-of-mind encouraged me to take Band 1 and Art 1. During band, I was easily caught up in trying to read music right off the page, while cooperating with the rest of the band to make sure the rhythm was right.
Taking band into my senior year, I realized how much tougher it got, and how much more dynamics were involved in making the music, “full”, or “bright”.
Meanwhile, crosshatching and gray scaling my drawings in art had me enveloped in a world full of detail filled with lights and darks. I took art in 11th grade because I knew I had a passion for it, but I didn’t think I would have gotten so proficient and good at it when I decided to take it my senior year.
Fast-forward to my last year, and now I have some drawings up on art teacher Mr. Perez’s wall and awesome art projects that take me hours to finish, but when they are they look awesome. I have an array of expertise that I gained just from trying to get better, while sticking with the class I chose.
In retrospect, I can do a lot of things, and I’m pretty good at them. I can do so much more, and these examples are just the tip of the iceberg. In essence, try out some things and see how you feel about them. Even if you feel iffy about something, maybe take a risk and go for it. If you do, you might end up being crazy good at it.
If you don’t, then at least you tried something new and gained experience from it. It doesn’t have to be drawing or music; it can be writing, math, sports, or even getting to know people better. Little by little, as you progress through high school, you’ll realize that these experiences altogether are meant to help you grow, not stop you.