Does high school hold you back from pursuing your own interests or hobbies? What do hobbies reveal about you? How do they influence your daily life?

It’s so important to engage in creative hobbies in high school or for lack of a better term; to “nerd out,” have hobbies, organizations and classes that help you have a creative outlet, conventionally creative or not.

School is helpful in that it helps you learn how to do certain things, like math and if that’s your hobby, great. However, for a lot of people it’s not, and having the ability to nerd out, to have something you really care about, that you can sink your teeth into is one of the best parts about being human.

Getting to have something niche, something to connect with people over, will always help you be more connected in school and in life. A common piece of advice is that a 15-minute break for every 45 minutes while studying will allow more productivity. In a lot of ways it’s the same thing for your overall life. Taking a break to nerd out about bird watching, cars or comic books is helpful in your overall life to keep balance.

Does high school keep us from doing this? Does the constant seven hours a day of things and assignments help? Or, does high school do a good job enforcing this? Blue Valley does a good job at this.

We have clubs and organizations and classes that aren’t necessarily curriculum-based that help us explore and meet people. Nerding out could be anything, even if you think it’s not a helpful hobby.

In the current age, where so much of what we do is consume content, having something as a hobby or even just learning information about a specific thing helps you more than you would think — you need to nerd out.

| CARTOON BY MIKE LEACH