A.H.S. Student Handbook - Ten Commandments for Success

1. In high school you will be given more freedom, something for which you've been waiting. This freedom comes with increased responsibility. Think of freedom as one side of a two-sided coin. One side says freedom, the other side says responsibility. Try to use you increased freedom in a responsible manner.
2. In high school you will have more opportunity to make choices. Being human, sometimes you will make good choices and sometimes you will make poor choices. You will have to learn from your mistakes as well as your successes. The trick is not to make the same mistake twice.
3. During the past eight years you have been building, and you will continue to build, the foundation for your adult years. How much you learn and how you conduct yourself during the next four years will have a significant impact on the quality of your life during the following fifty plus years that you will live as an adult.
4. Be involved. You will get out of your high school experience in direct proportion to what you put in to it. The more you involve yourself in extra-curricular activities the more meaningful your high school years will be.
5. Take advantage of your guidance counselors. Don't wait until you have a problem to get to know your counselor; be sure he or she knows who you are.
6. Build a good school record. It is a permanent record of how you did in school as well as what kind of school citizen you were. Your attendance record is important, your lateness and discipline records are important. Sometimes an employer will be as interested in that, as he or she is in your grades.
7. Since you get to choose many of your courses, don't always take the easiest ones. Take some of the tougher ones. Push yourself. Stretch your mind. Set your goals a little beyond what you think you can accomplish.
8. At times, things may seem overwhelming and difficult. When the going gets tough, hang in there. Too many assignments, too many commitments, problems with friends or at home can be overwhelming. Please seek help from the many people in the building who can help you. Don't give up. We have every confidence that you will succeed.
9. There is no easy road to success; the harder you work the better your chances for success. Worthwhile things in life are hard, not easy. You may think it's only hard for you, but that's not so. You'll never learn if you don't ask questions. Chances are that whatever you don't understand, many others don't understand either.
10. Try your very best, and have a good attitude. Attitude and effort count for a great deal.

To summarize:

1. Use your increased freedom in a responsible manner.
2. Learn from your mistakes, as well as your successes.
3. Lay a good foundation for the next fifty years of your life.
4. Be involved in your school.
5. Make good use of the Guidance Department.
6. Build a good school record.
7. Don't always take the easy way.
8. Don't give up when it gets tough.
9. Work hard to learn all you can.
10. Try your very best.