As a freshman who is becoming a sophomore next year, there are many things that I wish I had known before starting. “I wish I knew to not use the school bathrooms and to just wait until I get home because they are very loud and chaotic,” said Logan Nichols.

There are many things that you could regret during your freshman year of high school. It’s natural to make mistakes or ill-advised decisions when you are new at something. It’s also a bit overwhelming stepping into a large building like ours. “I regret not learning the layout of the school sooner because I had to run to my classes for the first few months,” said Nichols.

It’s not only physical regret. High school is much different from middle school with the amount of work you receive. “My advice for incoming freshmen would be to do your best in your class and homework, so you can have a stress-free year. Keep up with your work, and don’t procrastinate,” said Nichols.

Procrastination is a big problem in high school. “I always pushed my work off until the end, and I would stay up until 1 am doing things. I really don’t want to do things like that next year,” said Bob Kilbourne.

You should keep a good work ethic throughout the year as well. “The main regret that I have is that I wish I had tried harder in history, because I know that I can do better. Right now I’m super far behind. I’m going to try harder next year,” said Fabian Alvares. It’s super easy to lose steam, especially in the second semester. “I feel like my work ethic went down during the third quarter, and I’m trying to bring it back up,” said Nichols.

It’s easy to be stressed out by everything at first. With proper stress management and not panicking, you should be okay. “If I had to give advice to any rising freshman, it would be to not worry that much. I did, and if you worry that much, you start to get overwhelmed,” said Adrian Ramos.

A way to reduce stress is to be sure that you are signing up for the classes that you know you will enjoy, or classes that will be easier for you.”Be more diverse with your classes because if you stick to classes that you don’t care about, you will be bored and annoyed,” said Kilbourne.

“You should make sure that you’re signing up for classes that you’re prepared for. I wish I had chosen different electives,” said Ramos.

One thing that I, and many other students can’t stress enough, is to not skip your classes. You will regret it. “If there is one thing I want to improve on next year, it would be skipping less,” said Kilbourne.

High school isn’t all doom and gloom though. High school is a time of growth and change, and you will start to change alongside your peers. “I don’t see any change in me, but when I ask my friends, they say that I got more mature,” said Alvares.

You will learn a lot of things in your classes next year. “I learned more writing techniques this year than I did last year because I’m in creative writing,” said Ramos.

You can expect to be using your materials a lot more, and to be a better student. “I’m more organized now, and I learned how to use my binders,” said Kilbourne.

It’s important to remember that you aren’t alone in high school. While a lot of it is about growth and maturity, another big aspect is learning to work together. If you need help, then you should tell someone. “I learned that it’s important to go to your teacher when you need help. Freshman year is a very important year grade-wise, so you want to be able to learn fully,” said Ramos.

And you will learn a lot about yourself, too.

“I learned to be myself, and to not change for other people,” said Ramos.