Welcome Leonia Freshmen!

All across movies, books, and social media, countless people are constantly talking about the “high school experience” to the incoming freshmen. This involves going to school games, dances, etc. Although this may be true, as the new Leonia freshmen transition into a new environment, many of their experiences involve a new found stress and anxiety. Yet, some find comfort in new classes and find familiarity in some of their classmates.

Now that Leonia High School is back in session, many assumptions come with that, especially during freshman year.

“An assumption I had about high school was that the upperclassmen will bully freshmen,” Patrik Pascual admitted.

A common speculation for incoming high school students is that the upperclassmen are intimidating. This brought extra fear and anxiety entering a new school environment. The transition from being the oldest to being the youngest in high school is a difficult transition to many of the freshmen class.

“I thought that high school would be really scary and would be unlike middle school, but it was actually very similar,” commented Novella Lye, another freshman.

Students thought that high school would be vastly different from middle school, and would be harder to transition into a high school setting. However, Leonia High School freshmen find that is not always the case. With the help of Peer Leaders, freshmen have grown more and more accustomed to the pace of life at LHS. Most freshmen agree that the biggest difference was finding their way around the building.

Another challenging difference freshmen have noted is that the teachers have higher expectations, but this is balanced by the fact that they are allowed more freedom. Lyla Bacon, a freshman in a Geometry class says that her teachers  for her combined ninth and tenth grade classes “expect us to have the same amount of [prior] knowledge as sophomores” so the class can move forward together. Lyla went on to say that the overall experience has been “good, because I have other people around me who help” and students are often able to collaborate in order to learn.

As the Leonia High School’s new freshmen make their way into their high school lives, we as a community should welcome and help the incoming freshmen with their fears and anxieties.