Communication.

This is not only a lesson that will help you in high school, but will also aid you in your life adventures.
In your life, good communication skills are the key to good, honest relationships. Good, honest relationships are the key to success. Success is what everyone feels leads to a happy life, so the moral of the story is that good communication skills will most definitely lead you in the right direction.
The tricky thing about communication is the many aspects of it, verbal and physical, and the new addition of technological communication.
Verbal communication is something that is of a dying breed. We have technology to thank for that. In this day and age, there are many people, especially those in high school, that would choose to text rather than talk on the phone. According to statisticbrain.com, the number one fear of people in America based on a study they did was Glossophobia- the fear of public speaking. I know that this is but one aspect of verbal communication, but this falls under the same category. Although it often times seems that working on improving your verbal communication in a high school setting would not be worth your time, high school may actually be the best place due to the many different individuals you will come in contact with, giving you more experience. And with the many sensitive people who flood the halls you will become especially aware of your tone of voice and your diction. Verbal communication is a necessity because it is essential to creating personal relationships.
Physical communication is something seen and not heard. How people act without saying anything is a key concept in understanding someone. Crossing your arms, not making eye contact, edging away are all signs you would not have in an interview, or if you were having a conversation with someone you liked. Verbal and physical communication have to go hand in hand when you are having a conversation because how would you expect people to understand you otherwise?
Technological communication has taken away some of the key components in communication in my opinion. In a text, without an emoji, you cannot hear the person's tone, nor can you read their body language. And even with an emoji or if all caps are used there is still plenty of room for speculation. With the growing usage of phones I believe my generation is able to understand the meanings of text messages more than other generations have, but due to that we now are loosing our skill of actually talking to communicate.
Thankfully I like to talk. Keeping eye contact is not difficult for me and I can pick up on others' tone and stature pretty well. However I fear this is a dying skill that people need to revive. Keep talking, and maybe that will make you just start laughing.
JSL