I don’t know that much about staying organized, and I hope that by writing this article I can be a little more organized.

Since school has already started, I think that by starting this new quarter, we should at least start with a clean and organized slate. Some of these tips are my personal favorite things to do.

Staying organized helps in many different ways, not just physically staying organized but also mentally. I think that by staying physically organized, you can have better hygiene and start new habits. Those habits can help you in your learning abilities and in being a better thinker – not making any bad decisions. So, basically, staying physically organized can also help you stay mentally organized, and vise versa.

One of the things that I’ll say that really has helped me, is having a planner. Even though it looks really lame to have a planner, and writing in it after class is over, it’s not, because when you write stuff down, you remember it more. So in my case, all I have to do when I get home is to get my planner out and read through all of my assignments that I had throughout the day.  I can then do them either right at that moment, or I could go do something and come back, like taking short breaks. It helps me because I can’t concentrate on doing one thing for a long period of time; I don’t know why.

Another thing that keeps me organized more, is having color coded things. For example, the first two classes that I have, the notebooks are black and white. I have the rest of the notebooks in different colors to keep me organized in my book bag. I didn’t think that color coding would help me be organized, but now I have the habit of putting my notebooks where they belong in my book bag without thinking about it twice.

Something I haven’t tried, but I’ve heard about is that it is helpful to work on only one thing at a time, and to have only one project/assignment out at a time. When I say I haven’t tried this it is because I have to get everything out of my book bag and see everything that I have to do or else I will get lazy and not do it. Because of this, I keep everything out and put it back in all at the end.

I hope that these tips have helped you in any way possible, have a great quarter and good grades!

You have probably heard all kinds of talk about beauty standards and how they affect a lot of people all over the world. Many people have had trouble with body image and self-esteem but some don’t. The truth is, 7 in 10 girls believe that they do not measure up in some way to beauty standards.

When I use the term “beauty standards,” everybody has a different definition, opinion, and views. Because of this, I made a survey to see exactly what are the beauty standards here at Highland Park, who students think runs the beauty standards, and if these standards are fair. This is what some people said:

How Confident Are You?

Many people said they are confident or extremely confident. Actually 15 out of  20 people responded like that. It surprised me because along with these answers the other 5 that said they are either not confident or extremely not-confident. Given these results, I tried to make a connection to the responses, and I couldn’t really seem to find one except that 4 out of the 5 that said not confident to extremely not-confident are managing a mental illness.

What Are beauty Standards In Your Mind?

I found this section of the survey very interesting. Mostly because in both sections of the confidence levels most felt very strongly about what it means to them. Here is what some people said:

• A set of rules to oppress people.
• Dressing or looking like other people
• Wearing makeup
• Showing more skin
• Big Eyes
• Slim figure
• Things people say that make them believe they are beautiful or not beautiful

So, as you can see, there are many different opinions and views on what beauty standards are. Because these responses were in both sections and had no connection to mental illnesses, like in the question “How Confident Are You?” it leads me to believe that beauty standards are just there in our minds. Maybe we don’t think about them all day every day but they are there and we are very aware as adolescents as to what beauty standards are.

Do You Think These Standards Are Fair?

A lot of people circled “no” saying that the standards are not fair. 14 out of 20 people said that the beauty standards are not fair. And on the flip side there were also those that said that the standards are indeed fair. So, if you could choose. What would you choose. Fair or Unfair? Real or unreal?

So every single person is different. Everybody has their own views on so many different things and this one topic in particular shows this. Because this can sometimes be a strong or hard topic to talk about for people, it shows that, yes, people have their own opinions and we have to respect them. Beauty standards affect the world as a whole, and it’s up to you to change it or keep it. Could you imagine a world without judgment or misunderstanding?