As Freshmen in High School…

Another school year dawned, and parents were sending some of their children to high school for the first time. These Freshmen, as 9th graders are lovingly called, face new challenges and a new environment. Many are excited to see what high school has in store for them, but the worries of fitting in or getting good grades can bog down their minds. 

As Freshmen, they are subject to orientation, which at BHS means they are going to school when the upperclassmen are not. The goal of this is to get them acclimated to their new school, but many of these students can’t find their way around the school until well into the end of Freshman year or the beginning of Sophomore year. This unfortunate truth has been the bane of existence for Freshmen, as many stated that “not knowing where to go” is the worst part of high school. As Freshmen, the general consensus is that classes are generally not very hard, with most of these students saying that their hardest classes were Algebra 1 or Chemistry and the best teacher to have is Chelsea Arave because she’s, “… so chill”, as one student put it. Several of the freshmen students chose their classes by whatever sounded good to them at the time of adding them to their schedule, and the classes that they were required to take were more of a second thought. 

Some other things that the Freshmen this year quite enjoy are hour lunch and being able to leave campus during that hour lunch. “Hour lunch is one of the best parts of high school,” a Freshman student told us in an interview. This way of providing a reward for good grades and the relaxed rules on what you can do during this time is why the Freshmen far prefer high school to the middle school, which many think of as a prison sentence. 

As many Freshmen stated, another not-so-great thing about high school is learning to drive. Upon being asked the difference between a full drivers license and and a driving permit/drivers education, one Freshman said, “The difference is that with a permit, you have less freedom. You have to drive with an adult, but with a license, you can drive by yourself.” Most Freshmen expect this disdain as many have older siblings, or have seen several movies and television shows where high school is the main plot. Though, many Freshmen aren’t stressed out about this, rating stress from school anywhere from a zero to a four. This low amount of stress leaves room to hang out with friends, play video games, be with family, and enjoy sports. These students acknowledge, however, that this low amount of stress won’t last forever. One freshman commented that, “Senior year seems easy at first, but there’s [a] lot of things happening at the end.”

And to the Seniors, Freshmen have a few things to share. “Try your hardest and don’t give up”, “You got this”, “Try your best, take it one day at a time”, “Go to college or trade school”, “Don’t get married yet”, and “Believe in yourself”, because “It’s time to [start] thinking about the future”.