Danielle Sorcher
Features Editor
Wandering around the school hallways, freshman Nicolette Lathouris attempts to find her TV Broadcasting classroom, a classroom located far from all her others. She begins to walk faster, fearing that she will be late. It’s her first day in the high school, and she’s completely lost. Nicolette asks random kids and teachers for help and finally manages to find her way to the correct classroom, where she tries to slip in silently, late on her first day.
Nicolette’s situation is one that many freshmen have shared on their first day, or even first week or two upon entering the high school. The high school is bigger than Saxe, and the entire shift is quite a change.
Freshman Tyler Kendall can relate to Nicolette’s story.“I got lost today, actually,” she said. “Going through the Underground was pretty hard. It’s a totally separate section and there are very few classes down there—it’s completely barren. I was petrified.”
Meanwhile, freshman Annie Ludtke anticipated getting lost, and tried to prepare herself for that before school even started. “Before school, I timed myself going from classroom to classroom because I was so paranoid,” she said. “I didn’t want anything embarrassing to happen.”
Still, freshman Drew Lord wasn’t fazed by the size of the high school. “It’s not that hard to find your way around once you know where the spiral staircase is,” he said. For Drew, getting lost isn’t that big of a deal. “The second day of school, I was supposed to go to history but I thought I had science. I ended up walking into a class full of juniors, and they all looked at me.”
Getting lost presents the unfortunate side effect of being late, something that most freshmen do not want to be. Generally though, teachers seemed to be understandable for the first week or so.
“This past week I was stuck in traffic on South Ave and had Geometry first period in the morning,” Nicolette said. “I thought I was going to be really late, but I walked in and my teacher was singing … and I wasn’t in trouble at all.”
Drew also thought that teachers were pretty lenient for the beginning of school. “I was late to history the first two days of school because the bottom floor is kind of confusing,” he said. “It’s confusing because they’re kind of like mirrors. But the teachers said it was fine, it was only after the first week or so that they would start to take points off.”
Adjusting to the structure of the school is not the only thing freshmen must get used to. Managing academics, sports, and a social life can be overwhelming and easy to get lost in.
“I’ve cried several times,” Nicolette, who does ballet, said. “I’ve thought about dropping classes, but I didn’t think it was worth it—I got into the class for a reason and I’m always up for a challenge.”
Freshman Ekaterina Dyakova thought that it has been tough, but manageable. “I got pretty stressed once in taking an AP World History quiz our first week of school, and that was hard for me personally, but other than that I’ve been fine,” she said. “The teachers offer extra help and encourage you to come in, but you definitely have to time manage—they won’t hunt you down. After the first week though, it’s not that hard to adjust.”
Drew finds that managing soccer and academics is not that difficult. “I’m not up that late after soccer,” he said. “And if I really want to get work done I go to the library during school and focus.”
The freshmen agree that the high school staff and administration do a great job to make them feel welcome and in control. “[Principal Tony] Pavia seems really nice and understanding of the kids,” Nicolette said. “He can connect with them, and it’s not like you’re talking to the principal.”
