Four words can ruin any student’s summer; back to school shopping. Once these four words spew out of a parent’s mouth the essence of euphoria that had accumulated throughout the break is dashed as the kid is reigned back to reality. Most students have already completed this dreaded task, but there are some items that should be revisited. What follows is a list of items that are absolutely necessary in order to have a successful school year.
Motivational Cat Poster: This item tops the list as an absolute must have for going back to school. As the year progresses and the workload increases, finding a reason to keep chugging along can be challenging. Motivational cat posters provide an influx of support and encouragement to almost any environment.
A pencil: Do not underestimate the pencil. Don’t do it. The pencil is the axis of the academic setting; everything revolves around it and without it, classrooms would crumble. Until the day where Google Classroom throws a hostile takeover of all schools nationwide pencils will be an absolute necessity. Without a pencil, notes could not be taken, homework could not be completed and paper could not be written on. “There is no such thing as having too many pencils; they are critical,” junior Justin Slud said.
A giant eraser: The saying goes; everything’s bigger in Texas. Well, this isn’t Texas, and these erasers are huge regardless. They are as effective as regular erasers, but they will last all year long. As it says on the eraser, they are perfect for “Big Mistakes” which everyone is prone to make once or twice throughout the lengthy school year. Sure, there are regular sized erasers as well, but where is the fun in those.
A soft pillow: Buying a pillow right before school starts may seem odd. After all, sleep becomes an elusive commodity as the school year progresses, so why dump money into a pillow you will rarely use? Here’s why. When sleep becomes harder to attain it is critical that the most is made of it. While sleep is inevitably diminished, it can be more complete with the help of a good pillow. Less tossing and turning at night due to a good pillow will soften the blow of waking up early in the morning. “School stresses me out and having a good pillow would help me get more sleep in and definitely help with that issue,” junior Humza Mohiuddin said.
Crayons: Crayons are messy, melty, and hard to draw inside the lines with. They are the quite possibly the most useless thing for a high school student to have. They are only useful about once or twice a year and even in those cases color pencils are much more capable tools for the job. So why are they on this list? They are here because they are stress relievers. Nothing is as quintessentially kindergarten as Crayons are, and busting these bad boys out after a long study session would turn back the clock to much simpler times while being the greatest mental cool down ever.

Peter Hechler

News Editor