How can I convince my parents to get a dog? – Mia & Rose

Buongiorno Mia & Rose,

Convincing your parents to get a dog may seem like a challenge, but we assure you that with our help, you’ll have a puppy in no time.

First of all, before you begin any of your plans to convince them, it is essential that you do your research. After deciding which dog you are interested in and taking on its entire personality, we think that the next best course of action would be to pretend as if you are this dog. What better way is there to convince your parents than giving them some hands-on experience?

Show your parents the good life. Fetch the newspaper in the morning (even if it means searching for the news site on a laptop), bark when the mailman arrives and run around the room for no apparent reason.

If all else fails, we think that a rendition of “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” with “dog” instead of “hippo” and replacing “Christmas” with your personal choice will do the trick.

Hopefully, our sage advice will work for you. Good luck!

Hi Kelsey and Maggie,

I am wondering if you have any advice for sixies who juggle a lot of extracurriculars? – The Juggler

Aloha The Juggler,

We’d really like to help you, but neither of us knows how to juggle extracurriculars. (We didn’t even know they could be physical objects?!)

We can give you some advice, however, for juggling things like oranges and bowling pins!

• Once you throw something, try to catch it as it falls.
• Start with something, like perhaps a sack of rice.
• As you begin to add more objects, make sure you have the time to practice and the space to properly toss your chosen items.
• Finally, wow your friends and family with your incredible juggling skills, but be sure not to let the hobby consume you. Making time for things such as sleep and school is essential.

Juggling can be a difficult task, especially if you are new to the sport. Likewise, as a sixie at Boston Latin School, juggling extracurriculars is difficult, since you must adjust to a new school and grow your time management skills. Our best advice is to love the extracurriculars you participate in, but step back if you feel your load is too heavy. Good luck trying to juggle your extracurriculars, and we hope that this advice comes in handy (haha, get it?).

In the past six years at BLS, I’ve never felt as swamped with work and unmotivated as I do so far this term. Now that I’ve gotten in all my college apps, I have no drive to do any of my school work, and Procrastination has become my middle name. HELP! How do I get back to caring about my classes and making each torturous minute of learning engaging and interesting again? – Burnt Out

Hey Burnt Out,

As fellow seniors, we completely understand where you’re coming from. After swamping through Terms 1 and 2, it is often difficult to find the motivation to do anything at all, never mind school work. Early-onset senioritis is a real threat, and as time drags on, it only becomes more severe.

Our personal recommendation is to stream “Face Off” by Tech N9ne. More specifically, listen to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s lines: “It’s about drive, it’s about power. We stay hungry, we devour. Put in the work, put in the hours, and take what’s ours (ahoo).” This will surely get you motivated again, if not also a little frightened.

After doing this, you could change your middle name to “Productive.” You will have the drive, hence, power, and your middle name won’t be Procrastination!

We think we hit the nail on the head with our response, but maybe a little visualization is better? It’s five months later, the summer break before college. You’re at the beach with friends, but deep down, you just wish you had watched that TedX video on statistical analysis. If you work hard now, you’ll never have to feel like this.