This year’s first day of school was much different from past years. A new school building, different teachers, new students and a different community can all contribute to a freshman’s nerves before the first day of high school. However, this year started with every student attending classes virtually via Zoom meetings. More than halfway through the year, students attended classes in the building for the first time on Tuesday, Jan 19. The question now is, how are freshmen adapting to going to high school for the first time in the middle of the year?

Many freshmen are finding that going to school for the first time was exciting. The excitement to get into the school for in-person classes outweighed some of the usual anxiety that usually surrounds the first day of high school. 

“The night before I was really excited. I don’t know how much sleep I got.” said freshman John Vagnoni.

On Jan. 19 students in group A attended in-person learning for periods one through four. Students were extremely excited to be back in the classroom learning.

“It was really fun to be around the high schoolers and actually feel like a high schooler,” said Freshman Caitlyn Sobie.

Some students were feeling excited, while others were quite nervous, especially due to the new environment

“I was kind of nervous at first because I thought that I [could] get lost…or maybe something bad would happen to me. But, when I went there for the first time I wasn’t nervous, I was cool with it,” said freshman Penelope Britton.

Sobie echoed this feeling and “was nervous because the school is so big.”

Luckily, the feeling of nervousness about the size of the school was taken into account, and tours were organized for freshmen to attend on Jan. 18, the day before students would attend school in-person. These tours aimed to help students be comfortable finding their classes when they attended school the next day.

After the tours, many students began to feel confident going into the first day of school. Britton was one of the many freshmen who attended a tour of the building.

“[The tour] was really helpful, and made me prepared for school,” said Britton

Junior Leo Kaempfe was one of the upperclassmen who led tours of the building on Jan. 18.

“A few of them were nervous about coming into school for the first time, but I think that the tours helped them figure out where everything was,” said Kaempfe. “It’s a completely new experience for these freshmen because they’ve been doing the high school experience for about half of a year, and they have never seen the school. It adds some more difficulty for them.”

Even through a year of unprecedented circumstances, compromises and challenges, many are enjoying being back inside of the school building. Welcome to the Class of 2024!