Monday, February 1, 2010

1/8 of Your High School Career

You are officially finished the first half of your freshmen year. Take a moment to reflect on your experience so far. Has high school been what you expected? Why or why not? Explore some positives and negatives of your experience.

25 comments:

mriposta said...

The first day of high school, I was so overwhelmed. I didn't know how to open my locker, nor did I know how to find any of my classes. Lunch was chaotic and I had no idea where to go, and being around all the older kids was so different from middle school. However, I soon adjusted and here I am half way through my freshman year. Some negatives were the confusion of my first week and the change in difficulty of my classes. It was hard getting used to all the extra work and frequent tests. Also, it was hard going from knowing every student and teacher's name in middle school, to hardly knowing anyone. But with all of the new people around me, I made a lot of new friends. I expected myself to not like high school very much because of the huge change, but Mendham has been a lot more fun and interesting than middle school which was a surprise.

Emily said...

High school was nothing I had ever expected. When I graduated 8th grade, I was very nervous to switch schools. I thought that high school would be filled with intimidating upperclassman, huge bullies, and maze-like hallways. This was just an assumption and after being here for half the year, high school is not even as close to as bad as i thought.
Once I walked around often and got used to my schedule, the high school was a lot better than middle school. There were less rules, better teachers, and a fun environment to learn in. The upperclassman aren't all that intimidating; they just ignore us. And the bullies? Well no matter where you go, you cannot escape them.
There really are no negatives that I have specifically noticed, except for the crowded staircases. That is also something that nobody can fix, just something I'll have to deal with.
Overall, now that I am 1/8 done with my high school career, I look forward to spending the rest of my time here. I'm excited for the new friends that I will make, the ones that I will keep, and the skills that I will acquire.

shuber said...

High school has officially taken over me. The first day of high school, I didn't know what to expect, I wasn't nervous, but only excited for the new experiences and the new changes. When I graduated 8th grade, I was always ecstatic about the idea of being apart of Mendham High School. My mind was always on how fun it would be and how great my classes were going to be. Then when I started to get the feel of high school and into my classes, it completely overwhelmed me. My whole life just seems like it's about high school and everything that I do in it. I'm always thinking about classes and homework and ways to improve. It has made me so stressed, but I guess that is because I just didn't expect so much work.

Sometimes I really do hate it, but other times, I wish I could be there all the time. However, by the end of every single day, all I ever want to do is go home and just relax. I always want to release all of the pressure that's been put on me and just get all of my work done.

Freshman year is speeding by, and honestly that is definitely not a bad thing, but I just keep thinking about all of the things are going to come in my next few years in the school. All in all, high school can be a pain, but it's a great time, and with all the effort and time I put into my work and studying, I really hope I get rewarded for it each year with great grades.

Anonymous said...

It is really hard to believe that the first half of my freshman year of high school is already over. It feels like it only begun a few weeks ago. From the day I graduated Middle School, I was nervous and excited to be starting High School. I was scared about getting lost, mean teachers, and the work load, but I was looking forward to meeting new people and becoming more independent. I did not know what to expect when I walked through the front doors of Mendham High in the beginning of September, but to my surprise I like high school more than anything.

I have met lots of new people from Mendham,all my teachers are great and helpful, but the work load was much worse than I expected. I am always doing homework and projects, and I feel as though the teachers take weekends as a time to assign even more homework than on a weekday, which leaves no time for me to do what I want and take a break from school.

The thing that I love the most about high school is how laid back things are. We are controlled a lot less than we were in Middle School, and we are much more independent. The down side about this is in the classroom is that it was a huge change coming from a school where all the teachers babied you, to a new school where you have to work really hard to maintain good grades. High School is not as bad as it is made out to be, and I am enjoying my high school experience very much!

bservodidio said...

When i used to think about high school, i would think about the seniors beating up on all the freshmen. All of the movies and T.V. shows have made high school out to be a terrible time, and just a struggle. But for me, high school started off easy. I could do my locker, and could find my classes, and just in general I was having a good time. Although the work was much tougher, I found that if you work hard, and play hard, the results will follow.

Some of the positives of high school have been the freedom. The more freedom that we get in this school is awesome. In middle school, we used to not even get up to leave our lunch tables. Now, we have one hour of freedom (lunch) a day. Some of the negatives of high school have been making new friends, and the increased work/difficulty load. Making new friends isnt that hard, but it can be difficult finding a group to fit in. Finally, the more challenging classes and the homework has made high school that much harder.

MMiller said...

Unlike most of the new freshman class in September, I wasn't very nervous about my first day. I have two older sisters that went through this school, and one of them is a senior this year. I knew that she would help me get around in case I did get a little lost. Also, I had some sports events in the school that required me to go around the school. I had been to this school so many times that I knew how to navigate around the school.

I did have a few small fears though. The classes and the workload were the ones that scared me the most. I was taking all honors classes, and I didn't know what to expect. I thought that I would be working continuoulsy and never have a free moment to myself. I was also worried about the sports I would be playing. I heard that they were much more competative and that the practices were harder. Those fears occupied my thoughts instead of getting lost.

However, as I go through high school, I learned that to be successful, you have to have only three things. Perserverence, time management, and practice. If you keep trying and doing the best you can do, then you can do anything. If you manage your time well and get the work done, then there is plenty of time to do what you want and hang out with friends. Lastly, practice makes perfect, and if you keep at something, no matter what it is, you will get better.

kpersau said...

I found the work load to be alot more than expected. Honestly, the middle school did not prepare me for the next step. I think the reason behind this is because, at teh middle school, the techers would coordinate when they would give projects, tests, how uch homework they would give, etc. At the high school, every teacher participates in his or her own circle, they give their tests when they want, as much homework as they want, whenever they want.
But negative aren't the only thing to come out of high school. Lots of new friends, great classes and teacher. Fun activities (like the Fencing team)! High school is alot of fun and I'm really enjoying it.

Kmichaluk said...

As the summer before freshman year was coming to an end I became incredible nervous and anxious for the start of high school. I didn't know what to expect at all. All I knew were my classes and my locker combo, which I didn't think would be nearly enough to get me through my first day. I didn't know how to get to any of my classes or even where the staircases were, and on the first day I was completly overwhelmed with the number of students in the school. But once I got through the first week everything began to fall into place. I could open my locker on the first try, memorized the rotating schedule, and knew how to pronounce all my teachers names and could get to their classrooms. Now that I have the hang of everything I definatly think that high school so far has been a positive experience. Mixing with the other middle schools has made it so easy to meet new people and make new friends. A year ago having a complete stranger walk up to you in the hallway to have a conversation might have been really intimidating, but now it happens all the time. High school is also alot nicer than middle school because you don't have the same schedule every single day. Days change day to day so you don't get sick of school as fast. A negative about high school is that it's alot more stressful. Classes are more difficult and there's alot more work than there used it be, and on top of that it counts alot more. In middle school slacking off once in a while wasn't a big deal because in the long run it wasn't really going to count for much. But now in high school our grades are everything; they're basically our whole future.

Emma said...

From all the comments already posted, it is good to see I was not alone in not being excited for school. Middle school was a lot of fun, but looking back on it, I don't believe I learned much. High school is another challenge for me, however from everything that has been passed down from upperclassmen and the fictional world, there was nothing unexpected. The people are a lot more laid back than I expected and the classes are much easier as well. The change wasn't as drastic as I thought and all the independence is refreshing. Being able to choose from a bit more variety of classes and having every day different helps to keep things interesting. So far it's been good and it's amazing to think it went by so fast.

icalo said...

The first half of the school year has gone by so quickly. High school is a great experience for me. I am meeting all new people, playing sports, and preparing myself for college. I have enjoyed my time at Mendham High School so far, but it is a big change from middle school. In high school you are more independent and free. There are fewer rules but there are also harder teachers and courses. Even though I am adapting well to high school I don’t like how middle school was so much easier than high school, it was a big change. The positive thing about that is that I work harder. I have learned responsibility and time management. I feel that I have grown up a little bit more. I am really enjoying my days at Mendham High School.

mparker said...

On the first day of school, i was a nervous reck to be honest. The school was huge compared to my old middle school, which only had one floor. For me, my grade went from having 80 kids to almost 400; that in itself was extremely overwhelming. Also, having locks on the lockers for the first time was so nerve racking for me since i had absolutely no idea how to work it quick enough to get to all my classes. For the first couple of weeks, I would put all of my books in my bag, because I thought I would literally be running to my classes. I thought the grade wouldn't mix well, but everyone has been extremely nice and i've made so many new friends.

Now that we are almost half way through the year, and 1/8 done of our entire high school career I absolutely love it. I've made so many new friends, and i thought high school would be so much different then it really is. Classes are definitely a challenge, and you most certainly have to work hard, but if you put in the needed effort, you'll get the grades you deserve to go along with them. Now that I have adjusted to high school, where all my classes are, lockers, and all the nerve racking parts of high school, I love it and all the new people i've met.

ecrespo said...

High School has been exactly what I expected because I have three older siblings that have shared their experiences with me. The locker thing wasn't very hard to figure out because I've had a lock onmy locker since I was in pre-k. ALso my middle school in Texas is almost the same layout as the highschool. The only thing that I didn't expect was the difficulty here. i thought it would be much harder than it actually is. A great thing about hig school is friends. There are so many people so your social circles are larger than in middle school.

CConklin said...

For the most part, high school has been just as I expected it to be. I expected to have the freedom of eating where ever you wanted to at lunch and I expected to have a lot more work to do than when i was in middle school. I've learned alot so far, met a lot of new and interesting people, and even delt with peer pressure and problems. I couldn't seem to find my way to a few of my classes for the first couple of days and at times I felt alone in the halls as I watched sophmores, juniors, and seniors glare at me with the hate they always seem to have for freshman. With that being said, I've had a lot of great expieriences too. I played on the Frosh Field Hockey team where I met some really great people who I've become very close to. I sat on the sidelines with my friends and watched as our football team battled it out with other high schools. So far, I've made really good memories and had a lot of fun. I'm only done with 1/8 of my High School Career, and I'm really looking forward for what else Mendham High School has to offer!

ctino said...

Before high school started, I was extremely tense. Fears overwhelmed my mind. Where are my classes? Would I fail? Are the upperclassmen mean? All of these fears were imprinted in my mind as I first walked into high school. It was huge! So many new faces, it was difficult at first to make the adjustment from Middle School to High School. I was able to find my way around since I had went to school the day before to find my classes. I soon realized the school basically had its own traffic system when experiencing my official first day.

As high school moved forward, I began to realize I enjoyed it much more than Middle School. We are give so many more freedoms, although they do come with a new set of responsibilities. My fears were quickly alleviated, for the work load isn't as difficult as I expected. I was nervous being in mostly honors and two advanced, but they aren't as terrifying as the names lead you on to expect. I was also able to meet a whole set of new friends who I really care about. Honestly, I thought I wouldn't meet any new people who could potentially be my new friends. But, I made a lot of really close friends have been mixed in with the old.

In high school, a lot more is expected and it requires a higher degree of organization and time management. Some days, I really despise my teachers for assigning so much work. Others, I am motivated. Basically everyday I have a bunch of things to do. I have even had to organize the days of upcoming projects and assessments. High School becomes much more focused on the future, which can be a bit frightening at times. With all the hard work, however, I have been able to receive amazing grades and exceed my potential I had set for myself. I was expecting a lot of drama and stress. But, I have found that it is a lot more fun than I would have ever predicted.

NJacobson said...

The fist day I walked through the doors to the high school I was so nervous. I did not know what to expect, what kind of new friends I would make, or how my grades would turn out. I started to ease-up a couple weeks into the year, but really concentrating on my grades. When the end of the first quarter ended, I felt I had a really good grasp on high school. This past quarter (quarter 2), I feel as though I might have eased-up too much. I let my grades slip just a little and in the end it was difficult to pull them up to be even close to where I wanted them to be. I did not expect such rigorous academics as they are, but it could partially be because m teachers did not prepare me quite right. I have made a lot of new friends and I love having many different people in every class. The freedom at lunch time is great compared to middle school. Overall, my adjustment from middle to high school has been pretty smooth with a few bumps here and there. I know, however, I have to try to make those bumps as smooth as possible in order to have a good ride in high school.

EYanowitz said...

High school has been much better than I expected. In middle school all of my teachers tried to scare us into thinking it would involve tons of extra work, but so far the first half of freshman year has been dramatically easier than any portion of middle school. All of my grades are higher, I have less homework, and way more free time!

Besides being easier than middle school, high school offers a lot more freedom. There are 5 minutes between classes, allowing me to talk more between class. Lunch is longer and way less supervised. I can pretty much do whatever I want during lunch. I also like the changing schedule of the high school. It is a huge improvement over the redundancy of my middle school routine. Also, classes work better in one hour periods in stead of 45 minute ones. We can get more things done, and I have to worry about less classes every day. I was slightly intimidated on my first day of high school, but every day after that has been a huge step up from middle school.

galfieri said...

High school, to my surprise, has been pretty good so far.One of the things I like the most about high school is the experience of meeting new people. I have made many new friends this year through sports and classes that I might not have met otherwise. Outside of all the work and responsibility, high school is a lot of fun. You have so much more freedom than you did in middle school. As a lot of people have said, I was really nervous coming to the high school because it was something completely new and foreign. Now I feel really comfortable coming here everyday. But like anything, high school is a lot of work. The classes are a lot more challenging than last year which is what I expected.
Freshman year has gone by very fast now that I think about it. Sometimes I just absolutely hate coming to school, but at other times I don't mind it as much. I keep telling myself I can't wait for summer, but I guess I should take in all the things that are going along around me because before I know it freshman year will be over.

pruvane said...

High School was actually just about exactly what I expected. I wasn't too scared about school all that much either. That was because I knew a few things about going into high school. To be exact, I knew three things about going to high school. The first is that upon entering the high school, most things that are worrisome will fall into place, as long as you're yourself. Which points to the next position I made, don't overachieve socially, sports or study-wise. Lean one way and you'll lose ground on others (but don't stay neutral, one must prioritize). Have your own levels of the three, so you can't get pressured for time. The third and final one is to get used to the culture of the school, it's environment, it's people, get a sense of belonging. The combination of these three rules helped me minimize bad experiences and maximize the good. So far I do not have any particular bad experiences.

cswift said...

Highschool is so different from middle school. Between all the new people and the work, it's too much at first. It seemed great at first, but I feel as if I was moving too fast and put too much pressure on myself between school friends and sports etc. I have learned to slow down and focus more on school. One positive of highschool so far is how many new things I have learned. Between school and friends, you need to learn many new things. In the beginning of highschool everyone hung out with everyone and no one really knew who their real friends were. Now I have learned form experience who my real friends are. Also, I have learned that I have to work a lot harder in school. Missing just one class or homework assignment can put you way behind. You need to learn also how to balance yourself.
One negative of highschool is loosing some of your old friends. In middle school I felt so close to everyone and now I am starting to fade from some of those people. Some of them including even my best friends from last year. I still talk to them, but it's not the same. That is one thing i miss. Also, walking in the hallway with people you have never seen before is so different from middle school. In middle school I knew everyone in my school. My grade was only about 80 kids and everyone knew each other. Another negative in highschool is how if you make one mistake, the whole school knows about it. There is so much drama that everyone is involved in even if you don't realize it.
Overall, highschool has been an experience I will never forget. So many new changes is overwhelming but it teaches you so much.

mrusso said...

Coming into the first day of High School, I had somewhat of an idea of the changes because of what my older brother has shared with me. One of the toughest things about the transition from middle school to high school is the size difference of the school. Black River Middle School was only 1 floor with separate sections from 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. The 5 story giant that is Mendham high school is intimidating! I thought that I would never be able to find my classes, but the layout isn't as complicated as it seems. The first few days of school had me worried that I wouldn't be able to go from E floor all the way up to the main building, but after a while I realized it wasn't that hard. I expected the amount of work to be alot more than middle school, but that was an understatement. In 8th grade, I hardly ever studied for test/quizzes and did fine. Now, I study for a few days leading up to a test and struggle to do well. One thing that helps the work load go easier is the rotating schedule; instead of the same thing over and over for 180 days, every day is varied. It makes school alot less boring. Overall, my experience so far has been really great.

SBedrosian said...

High school was not at all what i expected. It was a big change socially more than academically. My work load and difficulty level is pretty much the same as last year. I never went to a Mendham school until this year. I have lived in the town for 10 years but always went to private schools. The biggest change for me was the amount of kids. I came from a school of 400 kids from K-8th grade and that is about how many kids are in the freshman class. Coming to a new school and not knowing anyone is difficult especially when they all know each other. But thats high school and its not nearly over yet. Things change.

ablanc said...

High school is not remotely what I expected. I expected it to be a lot harder than middle school, but all in all, the work load is about the same. The difference is that people care more about your grades than they did last year. It is now a bigger deal if you fail something than it was, and I think that that is one of the hardest parts of the transition. Now that I am used to high school, though, I am realizing that a lot of things have changed socially, as well. For example, last year, I knew everyone that was in my grade, but this year, I meet someone new everyday. I like this a lot better, though, as it gives you a chance to expand your circle of friends. Overall, highschool is a lot different from middle school, but I personally like it better.

Rachel P. said...

Even before I walked through the doors of the high school, I had a preconcieved notion of what high school would be like(partly because of my brother scaring me). When I thought HS, I thought of being pushed into lockers and tormented in the halls by upperclassmen. I thought that the work would be too hard for me to manage, and the school as a whole would be too overwhelming for me.

When I actually experienced it, it was partly like I imagined, but not nearly as bad. No one shoves you into lockers, and that upperclassmen don't really pay attention to you. The work is not really harder then middle school, but you really can't slack off and not do it. The teachers treat you more like adults, which I like. However, the school WAS overwhelming. My middle school was pretty small. Everyone knew everyones name and all the teachers knew you. There were so many people in my own grade that I had no idea who they were! I had no idea where to go, since it was so big. It was a huge change for me and I wasn't sure whether I liked it.

However, halfway through the year, and I really like High School! I eventually adjusted and got to know people and I made a lot of new friends. I really like how the schedule rotates and we don't have every class, every day. Like sydney said, some days I hate it, but other days I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I started out not really liking it, but now I look forward to spending 3 more years here!

Celia said...

High school has not what I have expected. When I started, I was scared about finding classes, my grades, and finding my locker. I didn't expect to become so comfortable at Mendham so quickly. High school has been better then I expected, although we get alot more homework then last year. But even all the homework has its upside. Next year we will be more prepared, and then when we eventually get to college we will feel ready.

jjahnecke said...

High school has not been like anything I thought it would be. I was very nervous at first about going to High school because I thought that the classes were going to be extremely challenging. It also seemed very difficult to adjust to a new environment, especially after transferring schools in the middle of my first year in high school. As it turns out high school inst as bad as I had expected, and I am looking forward to senior year.