Due to COVID-19, the sudden change in learning has affected many students from all grades. Freshmen, especially, were forced to enter their first year of high school with their last full in-person year being sixth grade.
Here’s how our freshmen feel about the school year thus far.
Photos by Zander Sherry
“As a freshman, I think the work is more challenging and the teachers are like way loose. They’re chill, you know, not like middle school teachers to me. I love the environment so far. I’m [also] in volleyball. I’m very good at it. Tryouts are next year. I’m gonna slay it,” freshman Richard Thai said.
“It’s pretty good. I like my teachers. I like the sport I’m in. I like the school overall and how active they are. [The upperclassmen] probably already went through this before, but since I’m new, it’s pretty hard going from class to class and the pressure for homework and assignments. On the first day of school, it wasn’t the best finding my classes but I saw a couple of people with an ‘Ask me!’ balloon and they were pretty helpful,” freshman Mena Makram said.
“I love [the dance team]. I’ve made a whole new group of amazing friends and I love them all. It’s such a great family and experience and they all are so supportive. It’s been quite an interesting year so far and with all the games and performances going on, it’s been a lot of fun [to make] a lot of new friends. Health class is a lot of fun to be in and a lot of the kids in there are pretty funny and my health teacher is so supportive and so nice,” freshman Tessa Walker said.
“It’s really fun but I’m stressed out with homework. On the first day of school, it wasn’t that hard finding my classes. My favorite class is my English class with [Steve] Schultz because he just tells really good stories,” freshman Makayla Velazquez said.
“Spirit week was pretty fun because you get to dress up with your friends [but] I heard that we lost the Bell Game for 14 years [in a row]. And I do love the clubs, all the clubs are really fun to do. I’m in [Gay-Straight Alliance,] Japanese Club, and CHOC. I [also] love being in cross country [because] all the people are really nice. Everyone is really nice here,” freshman Hailey Tran said.
“I think school is manageable. It’s pretty easy and in clubs, having an older sister is very useful to me. [She’s been] a valuable asset,” freshman Carter Than said.
