Registration is usually a stressful time for students. Some people load their schedule with as many weighted and college credit classes as they can, while others just look for the easiest classes that will get them to graduation. There are many things to consider when registering for classes such as career paths, stress management, and teachers. Many of these things vary based on what year you’re heading into.

Students schedule their classes differently based on their personal goals and ability. Some like to stack up all of the hardest classes and overachieve just a little bit. Others see no reason to over-stress themselves and just take easy A classes and coast their way through. A few people do both.

“I’m planning to load up on college classes first semester,” junior Trevion Solberg said. “But then make my final semester at PHS super easy.”

Balancing stress is essential when setting up your high school classes. If you’re overwhelmed by a mob of hard classes, it’s harder to do well in any of them.

“I don’t want to take classes that are too hard, stress myself out, and screw up my GPA,” sophomore Isabelle Urbach said. “Then I can’t get those scholarships.”

Scholarships and dual enrollment seem to be very important to students, especially those going into their junior and senior years. Students are jumping on every opportunity to save money for college.

“If I ever do badly in a class, I’d rather it be in college than high school,” Urbach said. “In college, you get to mess up a little because you already have your scholarship money.”

With all these college classes, stress can start to build up pretty quickly. When trying to find classes that match up with your career path, or even finding a career path to start with, students feel a lot of pressure.

“This is definitely the most stressful year of registration for me,” Solberg said. “Heading into my senior year, I have to make decisions based on college and career paths, and stuff like that has made it way more stressful.”

It’s not all about college though, especially for students going into their freshman and sophomore years. For them, it’s mostly about taking classes that interest them with the people they want to be with. Having a friend in a class can make it way more fun and less stressful.

“Me and my friends are going to a lot of the same classes,” freshman Ryah Easum said. “So I have a built-in support system of people who can help.”

Another big part of picking a class that will be enjoyable is teachers. The effect that teachers have on students’ view of their subject can be colossal. It always helps students when they know that their teacher is willing to help them effectively and thoughtfully.

“Teachers definitely affect the classes I take,” Solberg said. “If I know a teacher I’ll be much more comfortable going into that class.”

The environment that teachers create is also essential to students’ success. Although it’s not possible to create an environment that is perfect for all students, every student does learn in a different way. Based on their learning styles and preferences students take into account how well they work with certain teachers.

“I like talking to teachers before I take their class if I haven’t taken it before,” Easum said. “I like to know how well I blend with them because if I know I’m going to butt heads with a teacher, I’m not going to take that class.”

Overall the best idea going into registration is to keep an open mind and try not to overstress yourself. Balancing hard classes and easy classes to take care of credits, weighted GPAs, and more, but also taking easy classes to give yourself a break every once in a while.

“I try to keep an open mind,” Urbach said. “I enjoyed the classes I took this year, and I’m sure next year will be good too.”