by Taye Foster Bradshaw

Created on: August 10, 2009   Last Updated: August 12, 2009

It is that unknown land with language, customs, and rites of its own. There is only a certain amount of preparation that happens before the real immersion begins. The first day is a rite of passage that everyone must experience. It is as different as the school as the child as the time.

I have helped three sons prepare for the first day of high school and for each one, it was an experience. They all had the prerequisite parental review of the schedule that arrived two weeks before school. Each son was sent shopping for a sturdy backpack, the required binders, pens, pencils, and enough paper for a national forest. They all selected clothes and rearranged their first day look, each one opting for a style that would follow them most of high school. The boys found classmates and used every method of technology available to synchronize schedules, bus stop locations, and lunches with familiar faces. They all thought they were prepared.

One of the best ways to prepare for the first day of high school is to be open to new challenges, decide what you want from high school, and then make a determined effort to succeed. It also helps if you attend a school district that makes it a point of giving freshman and new students an opportunity to navigate their new surroundings before the rest of the students burst through the doors of learning.

Kirkwood High School holds a Freshman Day. There are teachers, administrators, and upper class men all there ready to assist the new students. The kids are given their schedules and handed a new t-shirt with their graduation year emblazoned on the front. After a pep rally to welcome them the school, they are sent into the halls of academic with their schedules in hand. They have 15 minutes in each class and have a very generous 5 minutes between classes to see how fast they can walk between buildings. The 600 students tightly gripped the map and spent a lot of time with their heads bobbing up and down as they alternated between reading their schedules,maps, and signs on the walls.

Parents can have the greatest influence on preparing for the first day, even if the budding independence of the 14 or 15 year old tries to think otherwise. Parents can set the tone for study times, help set up study areas in the home free of distraction, and can lend the quiet support that these barely teenagers need.

In essence, preparing for high school can be boiled down to a list of to-dos, it is something the new high schoolers will

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