At the start of the year, the halls of West High School are filled with many emotions — students rushing to get to class on time and friends reuniting after a long summer away from each other. But in the midst of it all, the freshmen of West are plagued with nerves and questions of “What-if”.
Worries:
For Claire Reimer ’29, the thought of starting high school was intimidating. Fears of getting lost in a new school and swimming in overdue homework lingered in her mind, “My expectations going into high school were that it was going to be really scary. That I was going to get lost all the time. It would feel crazy and chaotic.” Reimer said.
But once she settled into the routine of walking from class to class, her worries and expectations of high school lessened. “The first day, I was probably late to a couple of my classes, but it gets better every day,” Reimer said.
Getting lost in a school twice the size of Northwest Middle School was also on the minds of Adrienne Hodge ’29 and William Boback ’29,
Boback’s worries about getting lost were settled by the new student orientation. “I didn’t know that we were gonna have orientation, so I was really worried that I wouldn’t be able to find all my classes. I struggle with that a lot, getting lost, [the school] is very big.” Boback said. But as the first week passed, his worries became a thing of the past. “I got lost a lot, but I got it down. After the first week and a half, it was pretty doable,” he said.
Advice:
With worries in their minds on the first day of school, bits of advice and information from past students and family members stuck out to them.
Hodge’s brother gave her advice about how to thrive in West’s environment, “My brother said to do sports, do clubs. Don’t be shy. Talk to people. […] Just talk to them to see if you can make new friends.” As the year progresses on, Hodge finds that his advice helped her the most, “I wasn’t going to do cross country at first because I was scared, but then I did it, and I’m really enjoying it now.” Hodge said.
Boback shares the advice that other students have shared with him about the structure of the school before entering West,
Anticipations:
In the midst of the anxiety of starting a new school, Reimer found something that brought excitement to her school days: show choir. Reimer is a part of West High’s show choir, Good Time Company, directed by Luigi Enriquez.
The show choir group creates a performance throughout the year, competing against other schools. Not only has show choir filled her time outside of school, but it has also given her a new family within the walls of West, “I have a lot of my friends in the group and a couple of people that I wanted to be friends with, so I’ve gotten to be friends with them.”
Being a part of the soccer team and joining clubs is what Boback is most excited for this year. While the season doesn’t start until March, Boback is ready to be on the team, “I’m pretty excited for soccer season. I like seeing my friends. Though I’m pretty much looking forward to the whole year,” Boback said.
While he waits for the season to start, he also plans on joining a few of West’s many clubs. “I’m in pickleball club, [period club], student government, and then theater, [behind the scenes] stuff I wanna do. It was pretty cool [in middle school]. Seems like it’d be a fun time,” Boback said.
In between going to class and cross country meets, Hodge is looking forward to dances and football games. After going to middle school dances and having her expectations fall flat, Hodge is excited for her first high school dance. “I’m looking forward to the dances, because in middle school, there’s a dance I went to and I hated it,” Hodge said.
With the first two months of school under their belts and an important year ahead of them, the West freshmen are ready to take their fears head-on. For these freshmen, their anticipations will turn to memories, and their worries will turn to lessons. They will become the ones passing on the advice of the L-shaped school and the importance of getting involved in school activities.
