Fair warning, I’m one of those super type-A girls.

            You know the type. I’m that girl in your Connections class who has had her whole high school career planned out since freshman year. That girl whose definition of “academic challenge” is trying to figure out how to fit fourth year Spanish, AP Gov, AP English, AP Calc, AP Bio, and AP chem all in one day.

            I’ve seen the good, bad, and ugly of the scheduling universe. And that schedule I made freshman year? Not surprisingly, it didn’t work out quite as planned.

            But it shouldn’t have. And I am here to tell everyone, from my type-A counterparts to the kids trying to see how many opens they can have, to take a breath, put down the pen, and step away from the scheduling practice worksheet.

            If I’ve learned anything from three (often botched) scheduling sessions, it’s that the most fun came from classes “outside” the plan. Guitar 101? Video Production? Definitely not part of the plan. But they were without a doubt the most fun.

            Obviously, things like English, math, and history classes need to be included in every schedule. And if you’ve taken honors math as long as you can remember, or have been thinking about your senior project since freshman year, AP calculus or Senior Project English should be priorities.

            But no matter what grade you are, you shouldn’t be afraid of taking classes you’ve never even thought of.

            Look through the CMR course catalog. Chances are, there are probably a few classes you didn’t even know existed, everything from Tourism and Recreating to Intro to Engineering. High school is the last chance you’ll have to try out classes like that for free. Why not take a chance?

            Wasting classes on opens or study halls might seem like a good idea, but unless you need a lot of extra time for homework, all opens or study halls do is take away a chance to expand your horizons in a classroom setting.

            So see if you can rearrange that schedule. Fit in a funky class, and don’t limit yourself to a schedule you set up freshman year. Let school be fun, because by the end of the year, trust me. You’ll appreciate it.