When I was coming into high school for the first time, I was expecting the worst. No friends, HUGE school, scary teachers, tons of homework, and more stress. But once I got to high school, I realized it is so different from what people tell you it’s like. Since I didn’t get good advice coming into high school, I want to give incoming freshmen good advice. Not only will I be giving advice, but I asked 7 other Barlow freshmen what advice they had for next year’s 9th graders.
Freshman Morgan Justus, track athlete and cheerleader, said her advice for incoming freshmen would be, “Don’t be annoying because people won’t like you, be kind, and do a fall sport or even any sport.” Justus says that doing a sport is really helpful to get involved in high school and make a lot of new friends. “High school is not as hard as you think it is,” Justus says. This is what Justus wishes she knew coming into high school. When people talk about high school you always hear them saying that it’s really hard and all these things make high school hard for people, but when we got here it wasn’t as hard as it was said to be. Something Justus wants every freshman to know is that “high school isn’t the same for everyone.”
Another 9th grader, Kaeden Fife, has one big piece of advice, “DON’T PROCRASTINATE.” This is great advice because if you procrastinate, you will always feel rushed to finish work or you will most likely always turn things in late. Something Fife wishes he was told about high school was, “It’s not as hard as you think it is.” Fife says that every freshman should do sports so that they can get involved and have fun and some balance at school.
John Woodall, another freshman, has some advice for freshmen which is, “Pay attention, it’s pretty easy, just don’t fail.” Woodall wishes that when he was coming into high school, people didn’t try to scare him by telling him that it was really hard. Woodall says that every freshman should know to “Walk faster, don’t be slow, and don’t stop in the middle of the hallway.” Woodall also says this because when you stop in the hallway or if you are walking slowly, people will get mad and they will probably push you or yell at you.
Lastly, 9th grader Beau Tovar has advice for freshmen next year, “Attend your classes, pay attention, and don’t procrastinate.” Tovar gives some great advice as you can tell. She does wish she was told that the hallways actually aren’t scary; they are just very crowded most times, but eventually, you get used to it. Something Tovar wants every freshman to know coming to Barlow is “Stay organized, and keep track of your stuff.” This advice has really helped her get through high school and she hopes it will help all the freshies too.
In conclusion, all of the freshmen at Barlow this year have a lot of advice to give out to future freshmen. No 8th grader should be worried about high school. There are lots of people who tell you that high school is going to be really hard. But in the end, when you actually get here, it feels just like middle school with different teachers and more people.
