Student, admin share advice on how to handle the first day of school
Aug 16, 2023, 2:00 PM | Updated: 2:37 pm
Granger High cheerleaders greet freshmen walking into school on their first day in West Valley City, Utah on August 16, 2023. (Adam Small/KSL NewsRadio)
(Adam Small/KSL NewsRadio)
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — Around 8:30 this morning freshmen walked through the doors of Granger High School for the first time Wednesday. And they aren’t even a quarter of the 3,500 or so students at Utah’s most populated high school.
But, with a year’s worth of coursework in plain view and the stress of finding the right classroom, the first day of school can be overwhelming for any kid.
A student’s first day of school advice
“My first day was definitely a little bit scary,” Granger High School Junior Student Body President Shareth Perez said with a laugh.
But, now on her third first day at Granger High, Perez has found a few ways to cope. On top of getting good sleep, she said getting involved in extracurriculars helped her find her place.
That’s definitely the biggest deal,” Perez said. “I feel like once you join clubs, sports … it definitely helps you to … communicate with others … [and] helps you build much more friendliness towards other people.”
Even after applying for student government as a freshman and getting homework done first every day, Perez said it still took a couple of months before she felt she’d eased into it all.
Feel your feelings
“It is overwhelming because you’re learning so much,” said Granger High School Principal Tyler Howe.
Howe echoed the need for good sleep. He also said a good diet and exercise go a long way for kids, as does getting involved in activities outside of class.
“When a student is connected or committed to some extracurricular thing … the percentage … arriving at the finish line of graduation is very very high,” Howe said.
“That becomes a lynchpin of what we try to focus on with our students.”
When kids do seek out friends or other social connections, Howe urges kids to focus on being kind first.
With the emotions of the first day of school or anything that comes with life, Howe said, “Your feelings are your feelings and they’re okay.”
But, he also encouraged kids to work on identifying their emotions and how they can best respond to them.
And most of all, he said not to get overwhelmed with the first day.
“You’re going to have the entire year to unpack this,” Howe said. “We talk about a lot of things on day one, but it goes on for the entire year.”
