As finals week comes to a close, you can feel the anticipation of the new semester rising throughout the halls of SDA. Whether you are a nervous little freshman wondering if you will be able to find your way around unfamiliar halls, a sophomore hoping to get all your classes with your best friend, a plucky junior preparing to face a new flood of AP class homework, or a senior ready to rock the free 4th all the way until graduation, you can’t help but be a little excited or nervous about the new semester. If you are anything like me, there is something quite satisfying about recycling (or maliciously burning) the endless papers and homework assignments that made you break down many a night, and filling a fresh backpack with new “ammo” for the next wave of attacks. One thing I have noticed from all this is that you can tell a lot about a person by what they equip themselves with for World War School.

If your backpack contains a 3” binder with enforced ring notebook paper, pre-labeled dividers, the bell schedule, the map of the school, and a pencil case full of pre-sharpened #2’s:
You are an overachiever. Be proud of it and good luck in AP everything. But be careful because you are also slightly paranoid. If your pencil breaks in the middle of a test don’t worry about it. You always have one to spare.

If your backpack contains extra mechanical pencil lead, a pencil sharpener, gum, or any type of food:
You are the cool kid everyone comes to if they are in need. Help a brother out if they need to borrow something, but if you have gum, keep it out of sight. A pack of gum does not feed a class of 40 very easily. Don’t let the moochers take advantage of you and you’ll do just fine.

If your backpack contains a Capri Sun, fruit snacks, a cheese stick and last night’s leftovers:
You enjoy sleeping in and your mom most likely packs your lunch. People like trading snacks with you and every lunch is like Christmas. You never know what you’re going to get. If you like what you get then thank your mom because she must know you pretty well. If you don’t…C’mon man, you’re old enough to pack your own lunch.

If your backpack is a black hole with a chewed up pencil and a couple loose crumpled sheets of notebook paper somewhere inside:
You are a typical teenage boy. Either you got too carried away with the end of semester deep cleaning or you forgot about school…again. If you bring a notebook and pencil it will be much easier, I promise. But if you did forget, the overachievers have got you covered.