Imagine sitting in the cafeteria corner all alone with your Bosco-stick-less tray, weeping. “How did I get here?” you ask yourself.

Now you see your friend John. John is sitting at one of the prestigious long tables with their ideal placement for minimal effort to reach the snack shack. Bosco sticks are piled high, enough to feed everyone at the table, and you ask yourself, “why can’t that be me?”

The answer is that can be you, little freshman—as long as you follow my ten tips to high school success.

1.) BACK-UP NOTABILITY! At least three times a year your notability app will decide it’s just going to delete everything, but this isn’t a problem if you back-up all notes to Google Drive which is free and easy.

2.) To crack your locker’s unbreakable code you must turn the dial at least two complete revolutions clockwise until you hit your first number, then counterclockwise past that first number until hitting your second number, then turn clockwise again to your third number. Voila!

3.) Take your classes seriously now and make sure you get all of your math and science credits done so that when you hit senior year you can have approximately 298383 study halls a day.

4.) Bring your own water so you don’t get poisoned by “Red light” filtered water fountains.

5.) The bathroom in the 400s hallway doesn’t have hand sanitizer, so if you find yourself there often maybe invest in your own Purell. (And hand-washing goes without saying. But I said it anyway.)

6.) DON’T lend your pencils to anyone. Don’t trust anyone, not even your mother. You will put your faith in them and all of your trust and then they’ll lose your pencil by the end of the day you lent it to them, and then you have no pencils.

7.) If you think you’re going to be late for school just skip like the first three periods because there’s no difference between being five minutes tardy or five periods tardy.

8.) Keep snacks in your locker. This is a great idea because it will satisfy your nutritional needs throughout the day and you can possibly sell them to fellow classmates. (Bam! You own a small business before you’ve graduated high school.) You’re welcome.*

9.) Be organized. Throughout my high school career I’ve used one folder and one notebook for every single class. Suffice to say that you should probably just invest in multiple notebooks and folders (even a binder if you’re feeling ritzy) because organizing every paper I ever received in one folder was a bit hectic.

10.) Brush your teeth in the shower. This isn’t necessarily a school tip, but it’s a pretty sick life hack, so I’m adding it anyway, so, uh, live with it. This will help you cut out like 30 seconds of work in the morning which could be the difference between rolling into class on time or having to visit the attendance office for that tardy slip.

*The editors of the Bobcats’ ECHO would like to point out that students are not permitted to operate private businesses on school property. (Bam! You’re suspended.)