Consiglio: Make casual appointments with your teachers, principals, and deans to just get to know them. These visits should be purely relaxing. They will be more apt to help you in the future, you are building a network, and practicing social skills.

My friend's mother suggested this when I was in high school. I found it so life changing and beneficial, that it became a personal rule. Each new school year, I'd find the office hours of every teacher or authority figure at my school (and later my university) and proceed to drop in their offices one by one just to shoot the breeze.

I made it a point to come in with no requests or criticism of any kind. I just said I wanted to thank them for their lesson/guidance/management and, when applicable, point out what I enjoyed about their classes. I also tried to get to know their interests and hobbies.

I could see that, for many of my instructors, this was totally novel and refreshing to them. They were not used to students just dropping by without an agenda. In fact, some didn't believe me for a while. I remember one art teacher asking 4 or 5 times what I really needed. However, you could see the physical change in their face and posture when they saw the visit as a friendly gesture. They were so amused by the gesture.

Obviously, this was extremely beneficial if I ever needed real help or guidance, my teachers were always more willing to help. I can remember once when I was falsely accused of something at high school and my principal immediately dismissed the accusation in the head office. He said, “That's not the kind of student he is.” I was never even pulled in, a secretary ended up telling me this. Teachers would also engage me a lot in class because I was slightly more familiar to them than my classmates. I also knew which teachers were going to be hard to work with and I had ideas on how to approach them.

I made a lot of lifelong friends like this. I'm a teacher now myself, but I still maintain contact with some of these individuals. Also, I make it a point to meet people in this same way still.

These little visits were great practice for my adult life as well. I got lots of interpersonal communication practice and learned how to have a formal but relaxing conversation with a superior.

I suggest this to all young people. Think of it as an upgraded version of bringing an apple to class. Go meet you teachers and make friends BEFORE you need help.

Gareth Barker