It’s been quite an eventful summer—marked by campaign rallies, elections, graduation and moving-up ceremonies, and perhaps some friendly hangouts here and there or trips out of town or outside the country.
Compared to the past two pandemic summers, it’s safe to say that more plans pushed through this year and there’s even room for spontaneous events.
And yet, as classic of a tale as it is, I find myself not ready to go back to school, thinking summer break still went by so fast. Though grateful for this memory-infused summer, I suppose I’ve spent the larger fraction of it processing some life changes and being anxious of the future to the point that I wanted to really make the most of July—my last full month before resuming classes and before I officially become a Senior High School student.
Here are some things I did, currently doing, or hope to do before classes start, that you or your child can do, too.
• Buy New School Supplies. The pandemic taught us to focus only on what matters most or the essential things we need in life especially now that prices have been significantly increasing.
Thus, I plan to only get what I really need and I suggest others do the same. I haven’t visited my favorite stationery store this year to buy new school supplies, but I did this online last year and I’m thankful I did.
Aside from reminding me of normalcy as it’s often a student’s pre-pandemic ritual, shopping for notebooks also helped me get into a studious and positive mindset, knowing I’m well-prepared and armed with things that can help me do good for the year.
• Ready Your Closet. If you are enrolled in a school requiring uniforms, check if your old uniforms still fit to know if you need them altered or if you really need to buy new ones.
Make sure your uniforms are comfortable and neat considering that full face-to-face classes will be imposed soon. If your school allows casual wear, do see if you have enough clothes that fit the dress code. Again, this pandemic year is slightly different from the past two years, so we need to be mindful of what to prepare for, given that classes will resume physically.
• Visit the Campus if Possible. Take advantage of opportunities to tour your campus if you have the chance to do so, like when processing documents or getting fitted for uniforms on-site.
This could help you attain a sense of belongingness to your school especially if you are a transferee.
• Fix your Sleep Schedule. If you don’t feel called out, then good for you. But if you do, then I hope we figure it out together—train our body clocks to work consistently in time for the pre-pandemic routine. Consider the time you need to prepare for school and the travel time between your home and the campus.
• Enjoy the Rest of the Break. There’s only a few weeks left before school starts, and the only thing we can do now is to make the most out of the summer break. Aside from preparing to go back to school, it’s important to also make sure that we use this time to recharge and recalibrate, in order to gain clarity and energy for what’s to come this school year. I know some of us may be anxious about life’s changes and transitions, but hopefully we can all go back to school—bolder and stronger than a 90s trend.