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School-Success Activities

Good Habits

School success depends on developing good habits. The following activity will help you think about your habits.

Your Turn Write down the following in a list: 1. Sleep. 2. Eat. 3. Move. 4. Connect. 5. Relax. 6. Work. 7. Wonder. 8. Discover. 9. Create. 10. Share. Next to each item, write the amount of time you spent on each activity yesterday. Which activities did you spend enough time doing? Which do you need to spend more time doing?

 

Living in Full Color

You will be happiest if you live life in full color rather than monotone. Use the following activity to think about a full-color life.

Life Spectrum

Your Turn Create a spectrum chart using crayons, pens, or paint, and label each color in the chart with something that is important to you. Compare your chart to another student’s. How many important things do you share? How different are you? How does each spectrum represent the full-color life of the person living it?

 

Setting Long-Term Goals

Setting goals helps you to move forward to accomplish important things in your life and realize your dreams. The activity below will help you set goals.

Your Turn Write a long-term goal for each of the following, using the examples below. Then, for each goal, write one thing you can do right now to move toward that goal.

  1. High school: I want to graduate with a 3.5 grade point average or better.
  2. Job: I want to work part-time at a movie theater.
  3. Higher education: I want to go to a college that has a strong music program.
  4. Relationships: I want to stay close to my high school friends after high school.
  5. Career: I want to get a job teaching music.
  6. Lifestyle: I want to have my own home in a medium-size city.
 
 
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Eustress and Distress

Eustress improves your performance by motivating, energizing, and focusing you. Distress decreases your performance by reducing your energy, causing worry and pain, and making you want to avoid or escape a situation.

Your Turn List activities that cause you eustress. Then list activities that cause you distress. Beside this second list, write strategies that you can use to reduce your stress. (See the example below.)

Eustress:

Distress:

Reducing Stress:

quiet places

noise

take a deep breath

singing in choir

singing a solo

practice

cleaning my plate

cleaning my room

focus on one task at a time

 

Thinking About Colleges

Choosing a college is a complex and important process. The following activity will help you think about your options.

Your Turn For each college-related item listed below, write your preference. (See the examples provided.)

  1. Type of college: I would like to go to a state school but not one that is huge.
  2. Degrees offered: I need a school that has a strong nursing program.
  3. Reputation: U.W. Madison has a great pre-med program, but it’s too big.
  4. Experience: I want a smaller-school experience. I want my professors to know me.
  5. Cost: I can’t afford a private school.
  6. Financial aid: I’m going to need help. I’ll need to work while I’m going to school.
  7. Location: I want something close enough to be able to go home often.
 
 

Preparing for Financial Aid

The soaring cost of a higher education means that you ought to explore your options for financial aid. The activity below will help you get started.

Your Turn Go to www.fafsa.ed.gov and find the school codes for colleges that interest you. Then go to www.pin.ed.gov to get a personal identification number. Afterward, go to www.finaid.org/fafsa and watch the “Five-Minute FAFSA Video” to learn more.

 
 
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