Freshman Year in Review

This has been a wild year, especially for Freshman (like me!) still getting used to high school. From Homecoming, to the several times we had to evacuate the building, to all the sporting events that happen after school, it’s been a blast.

I’ll admit that before the year started, I was a little worried about getting around in only 4 minutes, and being told that the high school was huge, it was a little scary at first. Now, that’s laughable. I get around really easily. Most of the time, I get to my class with over a minute to spare. Sometimes I get to my class with 2-3 minutes to spare, and I have never gotten a tardy detention–yet. Hopefully never!

Another fear of mine were the hard classes, but that wasn’t nearly as big as my ‘getting to class in time and seeing my way around the school’ fear. The classes now seem really easier than I anticipated, but also let me know what classes I would like to move up to AP Prep next year as a sophomore.

Here are some experiences from other students:

“I was pretty scared of Final Exams,” Freshman Christa Lee said. “I was just thinking that Final Exams determined if you passed the class of not. If you got a bad grade, you don’t pass. Now, I think they are very helpful (if you do well on the test) to boost your grade up to pass,” she said.

I guess now that I think of it, I was pretty scared of final exams. The fact is, that’s basically what the WHOLE semester is for. To get you ready for the final exam for that class. If you listen, do the homework, and study, you should do well on the test.

When I first came to UHS, I had a little trouble getting around, but once I figured out that the first number of the room number indicated what floor I was on, it was much easier, and I pretty much memorized in my head the locations of my classes, it really wasn’t that hard after a couple weeks.

Let’s see other kid’s strategies for getting around.

“All I did was memorize the floor layout of the school because the layouts are very similar,” Prather said. “I actually laid the maps (that we got at the beginning of the school year of the school) over each other and they looked exactly the same,” he said.

“I really didn’t have a strategy,” Lee said. “I just tried to remember the room numbers and I remember what places they are by. Like Ms. Leighton’s room (2175) is by Ms. Hammond’s office,” she said.

My favorite event that happened this year would probably be the obvious choice: Homecoming, but I also liked the Winter music festival assembly. That was fun hearing the choir sing and the joyful mood around the assembly.

Let’s here from some Freshman about their experiences in High School.

“I think Homecoming week was exciting,” said Freshman Hansen Cao. “I liked all the different dress up days and the assembly in the gym to show our pride,” Cao said. Cao also said the biggest differences in his mind between high school and middle school were that there are more of a variety of classes and the high school is larger than the middle school.

“I think I liked the Silent day, where a lot of people were quiet for the day,” Prather said on one of his favorite events.

High school also has provided athletic opportunities to Freshman to represent their school. Let’s get perspective from an athlete. “My favorite memory was scoring in a Varsity (football) game. It was nerve wrecking and exciting at the same time,” said Cameron Mammen on playing a Varsity football game this past Fall. Mammen also said starting a Varsity football game as a Freshman is another great memory of this year.

This year has been awesome, and I don’t know about you, but it has gone by so fast. Every year of high school is going to be more fun than the last, and also faster too. Also, good luck in-coming Freshman!