Eric Thomas 

Being a senior, I know high school. It’s all I really remember school-wise other than little bits and pieces from my childhood. I made my way up the totem through trial and error. It was a long journey, but I’m finally at the end of my high school years.

Compared to freshman year, my views of high school haven’t changed much. The thing that really changed was my character. As a freshman, I was always told to “just be yourself” by my upperclassman friends, but I never exactly went through with it. With my friends, I would act goofy because I knew they’d be okay with it. Up until senior year. Then, telling myself it was the last year of high school, I decided to go out with a bang. By joining three or four clubs, taking two extra classes a trimester instead of having opens, then joining cross-country again, I feel my high school experience has been completed. High school isn’t about getting good grades or making sure you have a good resume for the future at all. It’s about finding out who you are in order to become successful in life.

Along with trying new things and talking to everyone, I’ve also realized how much better it is to accept everyone. Most people think they’d feel less of themselves if they didn’t have heavy opinions, but once you become relaxed with yourself, you become a lot more comfortable with others and realize most things that mattered just three months ago don’t matter today.

Now that I’m reading back on these past two paragraphs, high school has really opened me up to a lot new people, along with opening myself up.

Rika Yahashiri

Transitioning from junior high to high school is a big jump. From more homework, to a bigger school, to meeting new people, being a freshman might be overwhelming to most people at first. Let’s just point out the elephant in the room. You’re at the bottom of the food chain. You might get the impression that most people think you’re not mature enough, or think you’re annoying. The truth is, high school is just going with the flow. Want to hear what I think? Here is my view as a freshman of high school.

Freshman year compared to junior high really is a different playing field. There are way more assignments and homework than there were in junior high. There are also a lot more clubs and extracurricular activities that you can get involved in. This year I joined 2 clubs and the girls swim team, and it was an exciting high school experience meeting new people and reaching out. I am looking forward to the years to come.

There are also honors and AP classes you can take that involve a lot more studying. I don’t know about seniors, but I sure have a busy schedule compared to last year. I’m sure it gets harder from here.

One of the things that I’ve noticed and didn’t expect is that in high school if you don’t worry about people in different grades or think, “Oh my gosh, upperclassmen are so scary!” you can really get to know new people and make new friends. Your grade doesn’t matter. Compared to junior high, high school really branched out my social skills and made me learn to stay flexible while making many new friends.

Freshman year is really a change, drifting off from old junior high school friends and making new ones. The moral is, in my perspective, that it might be tough at first, but if you stay flexible, and be yourself, freshman year is pretty alright.