There are many things that high school seniors need to know for after they graduate, ranging from communication skills to studying for college. Life inside of high school is radically different than life beyond it, which makes these skills so important.
“I think communication is so key, and it’s also something you have to pursue outside of school,” senior Raegan Rains said. “I definitely think everybody should know how to write and speak well articulated, and actually be able to communicate their ideas in a very specific, concise, precise way.”
2024 Bellevue West graduate Holiday Yancey said that when it comes to communication, people don’t ask a lot of questions.
“People will hit a problem or roadblock, and they’ll just stop,” Yancey said. “They won’t ask for anything. They won’t ask for help.”
According to an article written in August 2021 from the Harvard Division of Continuing Education, communication skills can be improved by practicing active listening, watching tone of voice, and making sure you’re clear and concise. Active listening is listening to the speaker and understanding what they’re saying, all while responding to what’s being said and retaining the information. Tone and conciseness are making sure you speak articulately and appropriately; don’t yell at the person you’re talking to if they’re speaking in a low voice.
Like communication, critical thinking is also another thing to learn.
“I think the key one that I wish everybody would work on is how to think critically and intelligently and logically about things,” Rains said.
Critical thinking also extends to thinking about oneself.
“I think we have to have a little bit more resiliency and grit and determination to be able to be like, ‘Okay, I didn’t do this correctly, or I’m learning from this,’” counselor Joseph Mlnarik said. “‘I’m not there yet, but it doesn’t mean I give up and I just shut down.’”
According to an article by the University of Florida Health, improving your critical thinking can be done by practicing proactive learning, problem solving, and decision making. Proactive learning, or active learning, is simply put as paying attention to what you are learning, while problem solving and decision making are there to help you think about decisions and the outcomes of said decisions.
Studying and taking notes is a part of learning.
“I never really took notes in high school, and then I started taking them in college, and it helped me so much,” Yancey said. “I didn’t really realize how much just writing it down would really benefit me.”
According to the Student Success Center at Cuesta College, improving study skills includes taking breaks to make sure you’re not overworking yourself, making sure you’re not studying when tired, and not cramming in your study sessions. When it comes to overworking, make sure breaks are included in your study sessions so you don’t get burnt out. Cramming in study sessions right before the test is not an effective way to study, and being tired while studying is a great way to forget what you went over.
“I imagine there’s a lot of skills that I don’t know,” Rains said. “I’m just excited to learn, whatever it is that I’m gonna learn.”
