The calm and peaceful days of summer have passed and it’s time to get back to the books.Throughout my academic journey, I have had terrific starts to the year, terrible starts, and everything in between. However, with each beginning, I learn new ways to make each school year a success. Whether you are starting your first day of kindergarten or kicking-off your senior year, follow these three rules to get your school year off to a great start!

1. One of the most common mistakes students when beginning the new school year is procrastinating on summer reading assignments. At North Atlanta, the directions for each grade level’s summer reading can be found on the school website. I can’t stress how important it is to begin reading and annotating the books before school starts. Even though the assignments and tests from summer reading don’t begin until late August, waiting until the last minute will do cause unnecessary stress and a lot of lost sleep. Hence, rule number 1: Do your summer assignments early in the summer. 

2. Rule number 2: Build strong relationships with teachers. The first few weeks of school are critical for building solid, working relationships with your teachers. A good relationship with a teacher can yield many benefits: recommendation letters, mentor-mentee conversations, and a greater understanding of the subject area. I have found that the classes I perform best in are the classes where I have a good relationship with my teacher. Being able to communicate any problems or difficulties you have to your teacher, comes from having strong relationship with them.

3. Students are constantly reminded of the importance of staying organized by our teachers and parents, and for good reason: the organizational habits you form at the beginning of the school year are determinants of your organization for the rest of the year. Thus, rule number 3: Start the year organized, and stay organized. We each have our own ways we like to organize our assignments, but what is really important is that you pick what works best for you and stick to it. Before you know it, your organization will start to reflect your grades.

Hopefully, by following these rules, your start to the school year will be as successful and as painless as possible. Every school year comes with its ups and downs, but as long as you stay relaxed and organized, you’re guaranteed to have one of the best years yet.