By Marlee Breakstone

High school is a very intimidating place. It would be dishonest to say that I was not completely terrified as I boarded the big yellow school bus on the first day of my freshman year in high school. Entering the large brick building, I was shocked by what I saw. Students that appeared as if they were at least twice my height and age filled the halls. It was apparent which students were freshman, for they wandered the halls, helplessly lost and confused. My advice for incoming freshman would be to have an older friend or sibling bring them to their homeroom class on the first day of school. Once you are in class with students your own age, the school does not seem quite as large and scary. On the first day of my freshman year my sister was kind enough to escort me to my advisory class. I was able to walk to my very first class with confidence, knowing that I had a chauffeur who knew her way around the building to guide me. As freshman year progresses everything gets easier. Within the first week or two of school you learn the most efficient way to navigate through the halls to your classes. You learn which bathrooms are safe to use and which ones smell like stale cigarette smoke. You learn where your friends’ lockers are and manage to find time to visit them on a regular basis. After the first few weeks of school, freshmen strut through the halls as if they own the place.

Although it may be the source of many ninth graders’ worries, the halls are not the main attraction to the experience that is high school. Believe it or not, your classes are the most significant part. The level at which you perform in class and the grades that you receive in high school will determine where you go to college and ultimately what you do with the rest of your life. My advice to incoming freshmen would be to choose an elective that you find fun and relaxing. I look forward to my art class on a daily basis, for it is a class in which I am able to relieve my stress and enjoy myself. In academic classes every student should build a relationship with their teachers. The teachers enjoy when their students speak up in class and ask intelligent or occasionally slightly off topic questions. They like to know about their students’ personalities. It is vital to learn what actions individual teachers do not tolerate. When students speak up and participate in class the class becomes enjoyable for everyone who is involved in it. While many courses are challenging, there are ways to succeed. No student should feel embarrassed to seek extra help from his or her teachers. The teachers want to see their students succeed and are usually willing to meet with them before, during, or after school to go over the class material. High school is not as awful of a place as incoming freshmen tend to think that it is. If you work hard, study a lot, put effort into making new friends and manage your time wisely, you will succeed in high school and still have ample time to enjoy the best years of your life.