Every year, the Eighth graders believe that they’re the king of the castle. That they’re the best, because they are, they’re the big kids. Then, they go to high school, and to say the least, they’re in for a rude awakening. The fact that they literally can’t see anything, because all of a sudden they’re the small kids. Literally. As senior Anne Elise Cairns describes, freshmen are “smol.” She’s not exactly wrong either, but normally that will even out over the course of the year. That’s item no. 1 of freshman advice I suppose, “don’t worry, you probably won’t be short forever.”

Speaking of shortness, let’s talk about relationships! They might not be so short anymore, that is. Normally, people rather like to hold onto them too. Relationships, mainly friendships (but significant others may pop up during your high school career) are very precious and a little less forgiving than they may have been. High school is the point at which you need to start functioning as a human being. And that means that you need to function with other human beings. Anne Elise delivers a slightly more usable piece of advice in the quote, “In almost any situation, whether it be with school, a friendship, and especially a relationship, it is so much better to have a conversation to clear things up and for you both to understand than both parties be left to guess what the other is thinking.” Communication is key, and may even be used in the manner of ending a relationship that is not good for you. Senior Sam Krueger quotes, “Don’t be afraid that something won’t last forever. It won’t. Temporary is not meaningless. Keep your love for as long as it’s healthy and then tell it to leave the door open when it leaves.” Sometimes things don’t work out, and my biggest advice for you in this regard is that that’s okay! Just be as courteous as you can. There is no need to burn bridges if you can just walk back across them. Sometimes the other person sets the bridge on fire though, and in that case, don’t stand in the middle of it until you fall.

Scaling it back to slightly smaller issues, the school itself! I’ll leave this one mostly to my classmates. 10th grader Caroline Brown says, “The school really isn’t that big. I promise.” Senior Bakarri Hill reminds you to “ask for help if you’re lost.” If you’re wondering who to ask for help, Junior Emily Duong says to “ask teachers for help if needed, they’re (mostly) pretty awesome.” If you don’t want to talk to your teachers, most of your upperclassmen will probably help you out, Kuan He says, “Trust all Juniors and Seniors. They are VERY helpful ;).” In regards to that quote, use your better judgment, “all”, “very”, and the “;)” are a bit threatening… Regardless, most of us upperclassmen will help you out if we can!

For a few smaller pieces of advice, junior Emily Duong says, “Don’t take a boatload of AP classes, just sprinkle. It’s not worth being stressed or staying up to ungodly hours,” senior Katie Tanner reminds you that “No one cares as much about you as you do, I promise no one will notice your pimple or your cowlick,” and senior Samuel Rosa says, “Don’t stop in the middle of the hallway.” There’s plenty more advice in that realm, such as Samantha Krueger’s quotes, “Don’t turn your earbuds up to max volume” and “Don’t play audio without headphones.” 

All in all, there are plenty of ways to improve your own high school life, and you don’t really need to worry about it too much. Just remember that you aren’t the big kids anymore and you don’t need to be because no one really cares how old you are anymore. Little mistakes in high school are to be expected and won’t ruin your life, and if it feels like the world is ending, it’s not (unless it is actually chaos-apocalypse-nuclear-armageddon ending in which case you probably shouldn’t be focused on your high school career at all). You’ve got this, and welcome to Bob Jones!