By Sophia Caporale
There is one aspect of being a student that transcends generations; shopping for school supplies and the excitement (and sometimes stress) that comes with looking forward to the coming school year. For our older readers, do you remember shopping for school supplies when you were young? When you had a list and shopped with your parents, looking for pencils, binders, folders, and such? It can be an exciting time, and that has not changed. However, school systems have changed in middle and high schools. Students are no longer given one list that applies to all classes, instead each teacher has their own requirement; for example, the USB drive. The drive is a recommended item, but teachers don’t emphasize the actual need for it. Schools use Google Drive for assignments and essays, but it’s also known to sometimes delete hours of hard work. To avoid this, many students download the file and place it on the USB drive so if something happens to the original, the copy is stored safely.
Other supplies teachers over-emphasize can be journals and large binders, leaving little to no space left in your backpack. Instead, if a binder is required for the class, ask the teacher if you could be allowed to leave it in the classroom to leave space in your backpack; if your teachers allow you to do this you can get rid of all the binders in your backpack and leave them in your classrooms. I suggest getting an extra binder to put all spiral notebooks in so they are easily accessible.
School is all about having supplies out and on the desk in a timely manner and having easily accessible supplies can also help with the weight of your backpack. Maybe you only have half of the classes you usually do, you shouldn’t pack for all classes instead only pack for what classes you will have.
These are a few suggestions that can help reduce the stress of the new school year and to start off well prepared!
