Make It Count: Freshman Year and Beyond - Advice for Every High School Student

Hashim M. Garrett, LMSW is an educational consultant, author, motivational speaker available for freshman orientations, assemblies, and staff development. Booking inquiries: hashim@hashimconsulting.com

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Welcome back. Welcome back to HMG Podcast. This is your host, Hashem M. Garrett. Hope you're all doing well. Today's show is all about high school. And in particular, I want to talk about freshman year. You know, I've been a motivational speaker. I've been an educational consultant for many, many years. And whenever I would go to a high school and I'd do a presentation, one of the things the administrators, the the you know, the principals and the vice principals sit me down and say, you know what, we really want you to do, Mr. Gary. We really want to talk to our freshmen. Right. And it's usually, I'm not, um, usually when I'm coming into a school, sometimes I'll do freshman orientation, you know, those those weeks preceding freshman year, right? But oftentimes I'm coming mid-year, mid mid-year, uh uh, and we're having conversations and they're saying, listen, our freshmen are just so immature, right? The ninth graders, you know, just a few months ago, they were in middle school, they were in junior high school, and they they're just bringing that immaturity. Same message, you name a school, rural, suburban, private, public, uh, inner city, it's all the same, right? Just there, it's just adolescence and growing and maturing. And so here's the message for today. What I want to talk to you about is freshman year is such a pivotal year because we know high school comes with its own set of peer pressure, right? There's there's a sex happening, there's more drugs happening, there's um, you know, sex comes with a teenage pregnancy and there's sexually transmitted diseases, and you know, kids are able when they get into high school now, kids are driving and they have more autonomy and independence. So it's just a such a like strange part of life, right? Because they're so close to adulthood. So imagine here you had just here we are. Let's just use for an example. Right now, it's August 2026. So you literally have kids who two, three months ago they were in eighth grade, and now two, three months later, they're in high school and they're walking past, you know, other kids in the hallway who've got a full-grown beard, you know, and some of these kids are driving. Like it's a culture shock for a lot of freshmen. So, my my advice that I want to give you today for parents, I hope you um share this with your children, administrators, share this with young, you know, freshmen. And one of the things I want you to know about freshman year, why it's such an important year, is outside of just the the social pressure and peer pressure, but high school now is those grades are following you when you want to get into the universities, right? They're not looking at eighth grade, you know, test scores when you're going to apply to college, but they're now they're looking at those freshman years. They want to know what classes you're taking, right? And so you want to start strong and understand the importance of how this is gonna impact you two years, three years down the clo down the road. The other part is so we have university, right? And I know for most freshmen, they might not necessarily be thinking about college right now because they literally just walked into uh high school. So they're not thinking about higher ed. But the other part about high school that is such an important part is you did not have credits before in middle school. So most students, when they're entering high school, like, what is credit? What does that mean? They don't really understand, right? And I'm sure the the middle school guidance counselor might have explained it, but I've found that so many high school students, they are some of them are in the 10th and 11th grade. We're talking juniors and sophomores, and they're like, nah, Mr. God, I didn't know that I had credits. I, you know, and they they just didn't understand the gravity behind you know, failing a class and and and and so how that impacts them. So it's now credit-based, right? Just like higher ed has credits, you know, whether you're your associates, your bachelor's, your master's, doctors, right? It's credit. So we have those those same though that that new rubric gets introduced in the high school. So all my freshmen understand that it's credits, and that's that plays a big role in, you know, how many credits do you need to graduate? And you don't want to be you don't want to become deficient in your credits because you took ninth grade as a joke. And and so that's the the third part now is you have to grow up a little bit, right? And so, sure, your bodies are changing, and you probably are getting some facial hair and your voice is getting a little bit deeper, right? And then just the body is is just maturing and growing and developing, but you have to just take ownership and say, I have to grow up a little bit, I have to conduct myself. I need to be able to sit in my classroom, pay attention to my teacher, and not have these little outbursts and conversations and joking around. Like I have to grow up a little bit. And so that is a big part of being able to come into high school is shedding some of those immature ways, not asking you to be a full adult, but just understand that now you're in high school and there's there's a certain amount of responsibility that comes with you being a high school student, right? So, one, understand that your grades matter, they're gonna follow you. You you need to get those good grades, and you want to pass those classes because you again, second is about credits. So failing a class is gonna impact you being able to get those credits to graduate on time. Third is make sure you're behaving yourself and you know being focused, right? Making sure you're focused. And again, I'm gonna end this, I'm gonna end this show, how I began it, and just saying let's not forget about the the culture and the climate of the peer pressure. Peer pressure is a real thing, right? And so be mindful of the people you are surrounding yourself with. If you've never heard the saying, you know, show me who your friends are and I'll show you who you are. They say if you hang around nine broke friends, you're bound to be the 10th one. Just be very, very careful about the company that you're keeping. Peer pressure is real, right? And feeling pressure to yo, why are you not drinking? Why you not vaping? Why you not doing this? Why you're not having sex? Who's your boyfriend? Who's your girlfriend? All of that, all of the pressure. That is a real thing. So you want to just, you know, understand it's okay to say no. It's okay, it's important to say no. And you can phrase it however you want to phrase it. You can be like, no, I'm good. Nah, you can blame it on your mother. You say, oh, my mom's gonna lose her mind if I do this, or my dad, or nah, you're gonna say my religion, whatever. Yo, you could say, you know, I'm an athlete, I don't want to jeopardize my health, like whatever it is, just be able to say no, right? Enjoy high school, like get involved in clubs and enjoy it, enjoy your youth, enjoy those moments. Is every day gonna be like a high and you're just gonna love it? No, you is it gonna be drama? It's just gonna be, it's right, it's life, right? There's this people are gonna be people, whether they're in high school, hospital, church, work, no matter where, people are people, right? Nobody's gonna be perfect. So I'm just reminding you, just just you know, enjoy the process, but just be mindful of the pressure, right? Because, you know, the decisions you make as a young person are gonna impact you for the rest of your life. Because remember, at the end of the day, you're gonna be older a lot longer than you're gonna be young, right? And so those formative years of being in high school, they are literally laying down the blueprint, they are laying down the map for what the rest of your life could potentially look like, be that positive or negative. So again, I just want to stress, please, excuse me, be very mindful, be cognizant, be aware of the group, the social clubs you are associating yourself with. Uh, it's okay to have one good friend as opposed to 10 meh friends. You know, and everybody's not your friend. So it's okay to understand that. Not everybody is your friend, right? And that friendship, that that takes that takes a lot of time to figure out who your real friends are. You're gonna know a lot of people, but that does not make them your friends. You have a lot of associates, you're gonna have a lot of acquaintances, but you you're lucky in this world if you have one good friend. And that, and that goes with the ups and downs of, you know, will they still like me if I if if I say no? And that's gonna be a good barometer for you to know if this is a good person for you to, you know, connect yourself with. Because the moment you told them no, I don't want to do X, Y, and Z, and now they make fun of you. Well, that obviously wasn't your friend. And now you learned you learned a valuable lesson by saying no. All right. So I just want to encourage you, you know, as you're getting ready for high school, and I know a lot of the stuff that I'm sharing with you today is not just for freshmen. This applies to, you know, all of us as adults, you, you know, all grades is grades. But I just wanted to make sure I stress to my my freshmen how important it takes it to take high school. Sophomores, the same rule applies. Don't don't fall into the sophomore slump of like, all right, I'm not a freshman anymore, but I'm not really an upperclassman, you know. So just don't sophomores are two, don't fall into that slump of thinking, well, you know, right? Where you just kind of feel like not necessarily the lethargic about it, but you're just kind of a little disconnected, right? Hence that's the phrase, sophomore slump. So make sure you take it seriously. Juniors, you know, you got college, university coming up, right? You know, make sure those grades continue to do well. So again, I just want to encourage all of you. Congratulations, congratulations. You you're doing a great job. If nobody's told you you are amazing, you are special, you know, whatever is rare has enormous value, and it is the same with you. Good luck, good luck to for all of you. Um stay well, stay blessed, stay focused. Signing out, Hashim.