DR. WALLACE: As a graduating high school senior, I have a lot of important meetings upcoming in my life. I'm already lined up for a summer internship and have meetings to attend at a couple of college campuses that I'm interested in attending.

Besides being naturally nervous, I'm also inexperienced at working both in a business environment, which I will be doing for my internship, and also in more formal meetings in general, such as a college entrance meeting.

What can I best do to prepare myself for some of these important and, of course, unavoidable interactions I'll soon need to be making? — Inexperienced and Nervous, via email

INEXPERIENCED AND NERVOUS: Make it a point going into these meetings to have some good questions ready to ask at any point, as simply knowing this will keep you calm. Knowing in advance what you can say if there is a lull in the conversation can be very reassuring.

Then be respectful, polite, friendly and smile regularly. Be sure to learn everyone's name and to use each name a few times to anchor them in your mind. Make it a point right from the start that you not only intend to be a team player but will do your utmost to help everyone around you. Coworkers tend to notice attitude first before technical skills, writing skills or even organizing skills. Having a pleasant "team player" attitude will definitely get you off to a good start, and this should also enable you to quickly both develop your self-confidence and feel that you fit in as a valuable member of the company's team.

HOW CAN I BEST HANDLE A HARD SUMMER CLASS?

DR. WALLACE: I'll be taking two classes this summer: one in a subject that I truly enjoy, another in a subject that I've historically struggled with.

When I truly enjoy the subject matter, I always feel calmer and happier, and I follow along with all class lectures, discussions and assignments quite easily. But the opposite is true when I have little interest in the subject, especially ones that I don't understand too well coming into the class.

What can I do to increase my performance in the summer class that I know I'm going to be more challenged with? I definitely need to get a passing grade in that class! — It's Going to Be Challenging, via email

IT'S GOING TO BE CHALLENGING: Two of the best things you can do if you're very serious about engaging in a difficult class this summer would be to sit in the front row and be bold! By "bold," I mean you should raise your hand and proactively ask questions when you feel you're not grasping some of the concepts. This will mitigate you falling behind and not being able to catch up.

And to assist you in feeling justified being bold, please realize that there will be other students in the middle rows and even at the very back of the class who will be happy that you have asked a good question! They will also benefit from hearing a more detailed explanation from the instructor. Not every student is bold enough to speak up, and there are times students fall behind in silence without ever speaking up. So not only will you be helping yourself tremendously, you'll be assisting some and perhaps many of your fellow summer students by being bold enough to ask good questions about the lecture and important subject matter.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: JESHOOTS.COM at Unsplash