Teen Connexions

Have you ever heard of the Junior Ranger Program? If you don't know what that is, you're not alone. So many people miss out on this cool opportunity to engage in their travel experience and learn  interesting facts  about the place s  they  visit . In this post, I will be explaining  about  the Junior Ranger Program to you, and hopefully  this  will inspire you to try and become a Junior Ranger yourself!   The Junior Ranger Program is a program at most of the US National Parks  and other locations falling under the National Park system . Here is a list of all the National Parks with Junior Ranger Programs:  https://www.nps.gov/ kids/parks-with-junior-ranger- programs.htm       To become a Junior Ranger, you must fill out a booklet using information you learn about the park.  Depending on your age, there are a certain number of activities that you need to complete. Some activities might need you to attend a Park Ranger led program or watch some of the exhibits at a visitor cente

     Hey everyone! If you're like a lot of the teens out there, there are some subjects to study for that you just don't want to put your energy into, so I decided to make this post specifically for you! In this post, I'll be including inspiring quotes and ways to motivate yourself, along with tips to create a study routine! What are you waiting for? Let's get right into it! Image courtesy: Google Images I'll be including lots of quotes between all of my tips as well! Image courtesy: Google Images It's mostly you who has to be motivated to actually get up and work. There are multiple ways you can go about this:                                                                       Image courtesy: Google Images - Establish a reward system. You've probably heard this everywhere, but that's because it really works. Have you ever noticed that you feel more enthusiastic about something when there's something to look forward to at the end? Establish person

 Advice If you're like me, during the last stretch of summer, you start feeling shreds (Well, maybe MORE than shreds... more like chunks) of unpreparedness for the coming school year.  I personally start wondering if anybody has advice or if they feel the same way, but everyone deals with their nervousness in different ways. I didn't want others to feel what I felt every year, so why not give you some advice? I hope that if something similar happens to you, this post will help you. Third Grade I've decided to not include kindergarten, first or second grade, because most of the kids that I see at those stages don't seem very nervous for their year. Third grade might also be unnecessary, but hey, why not?    My biggest advice is be mature now, and you will really be happy later. Oh, and at the end of the year, be prepared for some tests that decide what classes you go into for some later grades  or audition for some activity or music ensemble that you can be a part of in

  I f you're in high school, you definitely know that there's a HUGE stress on standardized exams. "You have the SAT in a year! Start studying!" and all that. If you're scared about standardized testing and how to handle it, you've come to the right place. Today we're going to explore how to go about doing this test in a way that you will succeed. Disclaimer: Success DOES NOT mean a 100%. I know that you may be used to getting A+'s on tests in school, but this is not your typical test. Although it is possible to get a perfect score (which, in the case of the PSAT 8/9 is a 1440), it is not something that you should beat yourself up about not getting. Unlike a test for a class that you can study the content for, the PSAT 8/9 (and the PSAT 10, PSAT/NMSQT, and SAT) is more about showing that you can use logic and analytical thinking to answer questions. The only real way to study for these tests is paying attention in class and doing practice tests. Image

 As some of you may know, I have just finished my freshman year in high school, and  oh  boy,  what a year ! Well,  there  are  some things  I could  tell you.  This post is for anyone who is about to be a freshman or is about to switch schools. All of us are scared and nervous about starting something new, and it helps when someone comes along and  tells you how things are going to be and  what to expect . My friends and I thought we were so prepared for high school. We were all finally back in person after a year of  E-learning on  zoom, and this was gonna be our great comeback! And a comeback we had. But there were some many things we learned along the way that I want to share with you.  Just a disclaimer that this information MAY NOT apply to you! I am speaking from  my  personal experience,  but  there is no guarantee that this exact stuff will happen to you!      1. No one will hold your hand along the way . I learned this the hard way; although I expected things to become more i

     PROCRASTINATION. Big word, but something actually quite simple and easy to do. No matter how much we all believe that we are productive, there's no way to escape from the clutches of time-consuming distractions. People may say "if you were focused, then you wouldn't have this problem", but trust me, distractions are completely normal. However, if you're trying to find a way to manage your time well and stop procrastinating, I've got a few tips.      #1: Figure out your goals. What are you trying to accomplish? Maybe you're working on an essay and want to get some more work done on it. Maybe you're working on a math worksheet. Figuring out what SPECIFICALLY you're trying to get done is the first and one of the most crucial steps. Let's use some of the examples I already mentioned.  If you're working on an essay, ask yourself these questions; "How many paragraphs do I WANT to get done RIGHT NOW?" "How much do I NEED to ha

 Do you have social media? If so, you like to communicate on a platform that can reach others. If not, you may like talking with your friends or giving speeches! Answer these: Would you like to share your ideas or knowledge with others? Would you like to write similar things to what you are reading? If you answered yes to both of these, then you might want to consider starting your own blog. Blogging is a way to express yourself and your feelings in words and try to see if there is anybody in the world who feels the same way! Blogs take out the stress in filming long videos, and it doesn't require much. All you will need for starting a blog is a device with access to the internet and a camera (if you choose to add photos to your blog). The first thing you need to decide is what you want your blog to be about and come up with an appropriate name for it. In my case, as I mentioned in my earlier post, "The Reason Behind The Name", I selected 'Teen Connexions' as it g

 Hey everyone! Today I wanted to talk a little bit about songwriting. Over quarantine, due to the excessive time we had at home, I decided to pick up songwriting. Writing songs was a really fun way of expressing myself and just using my love of music! If you want to learn how to write a song, you've come to the right place. I'll give you the process that I used, tips and tricks, and some websites I referred to to get started. (The rights for any links I include go to the owners of these websites. I don't own any of these!) The Process Step 1: Write some lyrics I started off with writing lyrics, although many people choose to start off with creating a melody. It's really up to you, but I personally find that by writing lyrics first, then I can come up with a melody that matches the mood of the lyrics. here are the mini-steps for this part of the process: Brainstorm- Think of the type of song you are trying to write. Is it sad? Happy? Based on some experience you've h

     If you've been wanting to play an instrument for a long time, or thought the school band or orchestra looks cool, here's what you should say to convince your parents to let you try it out. Full disclaimer, I used other sources for some of the information I have here, but I wrote this entire argument myself! The crowd goes wild! You stand there on the stage, mesmerized by this spectacular feeling that you are overwhelmed by. Everyone starts cheering “Let’s go band” and you can’t help but feel a sense of pride and togetherness. You think back and realize how grateful you are that you got to be a part of this enriching experience. And it was all because you learned an instrument. Many people don’t ever get a chance to be part of something like this. Why? Because they don’t know the real facts. People think that music takes too much time and effort, is a waste, is stressful, is a distraction, is harmful to your health, is difficult, etc. Absolutely none of this is true. Music

       In this week's post, I decided to make a list of 10 things that I find useful to remember if you want to live happily. You might think that this is the same thing as my previous post, "10 Habits to make everyday better", but those were habits, and these are more of positivity "quotes".  I speak from experience when I say that I know it's hard to follow all of these, but just use these as a mantra (reminder that you repeat to yourself) for when you are going through a hard time and just remind yourself to try and stay positive. I definitely know that positivity fuels life, and if you don't have at least a semi- optimistic outlook, then you're just going to feel down all of the time. So again, here are some things I try to recall when I am having a hard time with something. Image courtesy: Bitmoji      Disclaimer: I am NOT a licensed therapist, so these aren't scientifically proven to help you. Rather, they are from personal experience. 1.

  Hello! If you couldn't already tell by the title of this blog post, today I will be detailing 10 habits to keep in order to make every day better! There's definitely more than 10, but here are some important ones. I hope these will help you with being productive and living a good lifestyle! 1. Have a consistent routine      If you've gone on YouTube recently, you will most likely see a lot of videos pop up about morning or evening routines, lockdown routines, a day in the life, etc. This is definitely a good habit to have, and you should definitely try this, although your routine does NOT have to follow what all the YouTube videos say. Find what works for you! If someone else uses a certain skin product before going to sleep, that does not mean that it is guaranteed to work for you! Find what helps you, and incorporate that into your routine, rather than copying someone else exactly. Your routine doesn't just include hygiene; a routine typically also consists of the a

  Snoozing your alarm, staying in your pj's all day, being distracted during class... any of those sound familiar? If not, congratulations! You are a very productive person! If those sound like you, don't worry, many of us do similar things. But just because many of us do it doesn't make it right. Here are some tips to stay productive during quarantine, even if you aren't feeling chipper each day. Waking up earlier- I know, I know. You're probably thinking 'if I'm already having problems waking up on time, how will I do this? Well, if you set your alarm clock earlier than you actually need to wake, you will be at least half awake, and even if you snooze your alarm many times, you will end up waking up when you actually should (once the sound of your alarm gets annoying). If you are still having trouble waking up, see the tip below. Moving your alarm clock across the room- You may have seen or heard this a lot before, but that's because it really works!

       As the end of the school year grows near for me, the beginning of High School also comes near! Some of you may know that I am currently in 8th grade, and will be going into Freshman Year in High School starting August 2021. Although High School brings many fun events, such as Homecoming, Prom, getting your Driver's License, getting your first job, etc., it also brings a lot of new work, responsibility, and thoughts about the future. There's no need to worry though! Here's some things about High School that will assure you that you will have a great time.      First of all, High School is not just work, work, work, from all I've heard. There are definitely opportunities to mingle and to have fun, like the social events, and electives. That doesn't mean that High School is easy though. High School is definitely going to be hard if you don't stay on top of your work, but as long as you are able to create a good stay routine and manage your time well, you wil

For those of you that know me, you are aware that I have been fortunate enough to be able to live in 4 different countries and experience different cultures. I was born in India but moved to South Korea when I was 2 years old and lived there for about an year before we moved to Japan right before I turned  3. Though my memories of South Korea are too vague as I was so little then, I do remember that it was in South Korea that I saw snow for the first time in my life. I remember some of the cartoon shows that I watched on TV- 'Pororo' was my favorite show and I still have some of my toys based on characters from that show. Thankfully my parents clicked a lot of pictures of our time there that remind me that I must have had a nice time there. After moving to Japan due to my Dad's work, we got to live  there for 6 years. I could say that I was partly raised in Japan and I had a wonderful experience there. With so many interesting people, cultures, traditions, and rich history,