Advice. We’ve all been given it at some point in our lives. Some advice we have found to be life changing in a spectacular way, other pieces of advice were life changing in a negative way. Students at West Ottawa (and one college student) have received a wide variety of advice from positive to negative.

Soph. Kayleigh Dannels: “A piece of advice I’ve heard multiple times is ‘fake it til you make it,’ which is not as good as it sounds. Especially not when I was in middle school trying to find where I fit in. I remember dressing a certain way in order for people to like me and include me in things, when in reality I was just avoiding who I was. The way I presented myself and acted in middle school was for the most part fake. This advice really affected me and limited who I thought I wanted to be instead of who I was.”

Anonymous Frosh. Boy: “ One time this past Christmas I was drinking that one sparkling juice that people have at holidays at my grandparents house, and the drink was like a fancy wine glass. And basically I was just holding the drink like I’ve seen other people hold it before, and my dad then said “if you ever want to know how men usually hold wine glasses they hold them like this” and then he showed me “how men hold them” and first I was kinda shocked since that whole phrase sounded kinda sexist or just maybe a phrase you might hear in like the 1950s or something, so that surprised me. And basically he went on to say how usually men have to hold a wine glass a certain way and that I was doing it wrong. In the end I kinda thought this was a kinda weird piece of advice just because I haven’t really ever thought and noticed that the way people hold their drinks is that important. I really don’t see a huge deal in it. But the biggest thing for me was basically how that whole piece of advice sounded. Of course my dad grew up in a house with mostly boys, and his dad grew up with 7 brothers so I feel like the whole “act more manly” thing came from that. I at least don’t care as much about that. And I know for sure I’m probably not gonna tell my son if I have weird things like that.”

Soph. Sophia Brown: “I’d say one of my least favorite pieces of advice I’ve gotten is “never let anyone see you cry.” This piece of advice came to me in elementary school, in an attempt to make myself look less “weak”. I started working towards masking every emotion I had with a smile on my face. At the time, I thought the comment I started to surround my life around was going to help me achieve happiness. I thought all my problems would go away if no one was able to see them. Over time I started to recognize that all the emotions I hid stuck with me, I just never had the time to process them. My whole life outlook became bitter because of my lack of communication and openness, and I was considering the fact that maybe that piece of advice I got was wrong. Over the past year, I’ve been working towards expressing myself more to my loved ones, and it’s helped me regain my positive outlook on life, and trust. Emotions are not something to be locked in a box, they are supposed to be expressed.”

Lydia Marcum, Freshman at Brown University: “Okay so my college mentor pushed me to do a summer internship at an Ivy League school and he told me that in high school, I should take as many AP classes as possible and I did and I’m so happy because I got into some great colleges with them and it paved the way to a really really good start. His advice to me was to do as much as I can because it will be worth it in the long run.

Soph. Magaly Lemus:  “Get over it”

“It is stupid advice because there’s so much more feelings and emotions that go into that and it won’t just disappear. It is very insensitive to your feelings.”Jr. Keegan Angel “come on think, you can do it “

“So, Kam Dumas actually helped me by saying this quote to me when I was asked this question, and it didn’t help me. So that Is my story and advice that was given to me.”

Sr. Adam Ledesma : “It is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”

“That is a horrible piece of advice, in many ways. I just think about that when I am doing anything, like ‘Is this good or is this something that is going to turn around, and just be awful in the long term.’”

Jr. Mark Cosgrove “Psalm 23: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you or with me.”

“And that to me is a comfort, whenever I am in a bad mindset, and going through a hard situation, or just hearing something I am not super happy with, is that no matter what I am doing the Lord is there for me, and He picks me right back up when I fall down. He helps me to keep going.”

Sr. Kam Dumas: “Do not let fear dictate what you do”

“I think as a senior this year that has influenced my college decision, and just how I carry myself, it is definitely something I am working on and growing with, but it is a good challenge to keep applying.”