Inhale. Exhale. With trembling hands you opened the door at the tower. You went up the stairs and became excited and a little worried to start your first day at Loy Norrix. Everyone has had such nervous experience at the beginning of high school life, but almost everyone forgets about that.

Freshmen had those feelings only six months ago, and they are still exploring all of the tricks of being a high school student. Some of them shared their experience so far and compared it to one they received at middle school.

“I’ve had a lot of fun,” said freshman Rachel Thompson. “People are a lot nicer than I thought they would be. I made a lot of friends, more than I was thinking I could have. Also I matured a lot. I never expected I could mature so much in the way I did these two trimesters.”

Neuroscientist Gregory S. Berns is sure that engaging a teenagers in adult activities makes them mature faster. Studying in high school enables that change for some students.

When students come to high school they mention a lot of differences with middle school. The way freshmen overcome them also effects their opinions about high school.

“I think it’s good,” said freshman Travis Grube. “It’s the fact that there are more teachers in high school, and that’s cooler because in middle school you have one teacher through all the years, and it’s kind of boring. I like high school better than the middle school.”

Becoming a high school student is a process of entering an unknown society. Being new in an already formed collective isn’t easy, but joining a really cool crowd of peers is always fun.

“Being new here was really nice,” said freshman Kiara Allen. “I made a lot of friends. It was fun, but it was slow. I hope next year will be better.”

Sophomore Ruby Hensley agreed with Kiara.

“Sophomore year is definitely better than freshman,” she said. “You’ve been there for a year and people have got to know you, and they don’t treat you like a baby anymore. Also you get to know more people, so you have more friends.”

The ability to choose different classes inspires new students to develop their skills in different ways.

“There is a lot more freedom with your choice of classes,” said Rachel Zook. “And classes are generally more interesting. There is a lot more work to do here than in middle school, but I definitely like high school more than middle school.”

Freshman year in high school is the first step in huge personal growth, adjusting to life in a larger society and finding new ways of self-expression.