In high school you will have a lot on your plate, and in your freshman year, as much as it is great to be as involved as possible, sometimes you need to take a second and think about whether you will have enough time for everything.
I try to be as involved as possible in my school and I am currently in Ecology Club, spring track, and I wanted to be in the musical as well. I tried out, not thinking about how it would influence my grades or my involvement in any of the other sports or clubs. Luckily I did not get a major role, so I just figured I would pretty much be able to commit all my time to everything else besides the musical and study the songs in my time off. Turns out that’s not how it works. Even if I was just in the ensemble, there were still quite a few rehearsals that were mandatory and would last all afternoon. Meaning I would not make it to track practice. And that means I may not qualify for the varsity lineup for pole vault, nor would I get a varsity letter.
Not only that, but my grades would also probably be influenced. Along with my honors projects. So I made the mature decision to talk to the musical director and explain my dilemma to her. She knows me fairly well and knows that I am a very athletic person. She told me flat out that she would rather I dropped out of the cast instead of trying to balance the musical, spring track, and everything else without letting my grades drop.
She also could tell that I still wanted to be involved in the musical, and knowing I am very interested in hair and makeup, she asked if I would help with that for the performances.
I told you this because I think that in high school it is great to be as involved as possible, but you really have to think about how your grades will be swayed. If you think your grades may start to drop, you should consider which of the things you are involved in you are the least excited about and consider dropping it. Also, I encourage you to do as many honors projects as possible, and you need to stay on top of those. If you forget about those you will not have fun trying to finish them right at the last second. They will also probably be done poorly and you may not even get credit for it.
I didn’t get credit for my Spanish honors project last semester and I have regretted putting it off till the last second ever since.