High School- the biggest years of your school experience before you enter the real world. An ecosystem of teenagers maturing and learning about life together. Going from an eighth grader on top of the world to a whole new environment is a huge transition in a person’s life. Whether you are excited or nervous or both, there are lots of unexpected changes from middle school, large and small.

One change is simply physical. Not only is the school building significantly bigger, but the quantity of students is very startling. Once the bell rings, people swarm out of the honeycombs and make a beeline for the next room they’re going to in the hive. They all know exactly where they’re going and it’s a feat hard to even imagine until you see it. Trying to find your classroom with your schedule clutched in your hand, it feel like you’re hopelessly lost in a sea of upperclassmen. However if you get lost in the hoard in your first couple days, don’t be afraid to ask a teacher for help. You can either try and find your way back to main street and ask someone in front of student services or walk into the closest classroom and admit you can’t find your class.

Another thing that will be new your freshmen year is learning the order of association with the other classes. Now in some cases the divide between freshmen and upperclassmen is extreme; that’s natural and expected. But what most freshmen don’t know is that some upperclassmen are willing to help you find your way around and can even be your friend. As the months go on and you become more comfortable with the school, you’ll probably have a group of friends the includes not only friends in your own grade, but friends from all different grades and groups. Despite change being scary, this is actually an awesome opportunity. The different people you meet and befriend is one of the most amazing parts of high school. Don’t be afraid to make new friends!

With High School comes freedom, however, with this freedom comes responsibility and decision making. The number of classes you can choose from seems infinite; you can branch out from the basics now and find something that is actually fun to learn. You have the choice of endless different clubs to sign up for and sports to tryout for. The decisions are awesome, because these are the things that help form you into the person you want to be. These things can help lead you to what you want to do with your life or study in college, and exploring what makes you happy is one of the coolest things about High School. However, it can be stressful trying to choose all out of the many options hardly knowing anything about school in general. Everything has a deadline and trying to make up your mind before you even know what you could possibly want to pick can be a unexpected and big stress on your life those first months. Just take a deep breath, you have four years to figure it out. And remember you are doing these things because you enjoy them, not to overload yourself and cause stress in your life.

Football games, homecoming, AP exams, lunch, driver’s ed, gym class, musicals, SATs, electives, Student Government, visiting colleges, learning a language, and so much more; High school is full of opportunities. Your experience will be based one which ones you take and which ones you decide would be best to avoid. It won’t be too long before you go from a small freshmen to a senior ruling the school. Four quick years that are hard and if you choose to, incredible.