By: Megha Lakha
Exams are less than a month away, and it seems like the first semester has flown by. It feels like freshman orientation and SING were just yesterday. I wanted to know how my fellow freshmen have felt about high school so far.
“The first semester so far has been very hectic, there’s been a lot of tests and things that are really stressful,” says Symone Sapp. However, some students feel like it’s easily manageable, like William Holmes, who said, “I think it’s a lot more fun than middle school and if you can figure out your studying schedule, then it is not that much work.”
A big challenge for almost all high school students is balancing their workloads, with sports and other extracurricular activities. Finding time to effectively study and get work done is difficult. For instance, Scarlett Rouland plays club volleyball three times a week and seems to have a good routine down, “I can balance my workload and practice schedule because I will do my homework the night before,” she said.
Homework can take a lot of time. Isabelle Cherroff says she has “about three to four hours of homework each night.” When you mix that amount of homework with sports and other responsibilities, it can impact sleep. “I would say I get about five to seven hours of sleep,” says Isabelle. Dunning Silliman finds himself staying up late a lot because he can only get started on homework after two-hour practices every weekday.
While balance is a tough thing to achieve, many people have expressed their enjoyment of freedom and being trusted. “You’re expected to do your work, and they trust you with it,” Scarlett said. Dunning likes not feeling as if teachers are watching you all the time as long as you follow directions.
Compared to middle school, high school seems like a freedom-filled utopia, but students do miss some parts of middle school. “I miss how much easier it was in comparison,” Shelby Morris mentioned. But, high school is still a dream. “I feel like the worst thing is the workload, but the best thing is the fun experiences you get to have,” she said.
Students not only appreciate the freedom, but they also enjoy having directed study, better teacher-student relationships, and cafe privileges. “All I do is go to the cafe every other class!” Symone said.
To end the interviews, I asked students how they would describe the freshman class. William Holmes said, “friendly.” Dunning said, “Open-minded.” Scarlett said her word would be “persistent” because “our grade always works hard to get what we want and works hard athletically and academically.”
