High school can be a rocky experience. While not as crazy and drama-filled as popular 80’s movies may have portrayed, it still can be frightening and difficult to navigate. By far, one of the most challenging and, in some cases, terrifying, year of high school is the ninth grade. Not only does one experience- as my 7th grade health teacher called it- ‘body changes’, you also are completely thrown into a new social universe.
To keep anonymity names have been withheld, but one Interlake freshman coming from Odle Middle School described her year so far as “anticlimactic”, and that “it has been fairly easy to make friends.” She went on to entail how she has been supported by an excellent group of friends, has been able to adapt easily to classes, and has somehow managed the “exponential” amounts of homework.
For some, it hasn’t been so easy. A graduate of Highland Middle School stated that he “would rate [his year] as a 4/10.” He explained in his interview that his “friendships have fallen apart, or are in the process of”. He continued to say that “school is no longer a good experience.”
So what has caused this major gap between these students in how they experience school? Both keep up their grades, and went to middle schools within the Bellevue school district before coming to Interlake. What social environment are we creating here at Interlake that is allowing our students to have such varying levels of success with school?
While it’s easy to blame this negative environment on the usual culprits (cliques, bullying, pressure from home), instead we as student body should redirect our energy towards making our school environment more tolerant towards freshmen themselves.
Believe me, I too am guilty of saying things like “ugh freshmen are so annoying,” and “this is why everybody hates freshmen”, but now I feel my perspective has changed. We all at one point were freshmen, and all of us remember how confusing and terrifying that entire year was. So maybe, we should be more lenient towards them. They are all just beginning to figure things out, and we should be kind enough to help them. And hey, maybe you’ll even make a friend along the way!
And to you freshmen, as a former freshman myself, remember to keep your head held high. No matter what group you’re in, what grades you have, or how popular you are, try to make the best of things. Yes, school will never be the most fun part of your life, but you might as well try to make it better for the next four years. Eventually, you will find where you belong.