A common misconception is that Freshman year doesn’t truly matter in the bigger picture of things, the ‘bigger picture’ being the rest of high school or college. And while the one year may not be the most important of all four high school years, it may matter more than you originally thought.
All adults and upperclassmen will most likely say to take your freshman year seriously, do your homework, go all your classes on time, make new friends, be nice to your teachers, and learn something new everyday. They say that it’ll be worth it, but how do we know that? It’s only one year out of four, the first chance out of many to get good grades, perfect attendance, or make lifelong friends.
Well think about this, sources say freshman year grades are important because they establish the foundation for your high school GPA and can significantly impact future opportunities. While colleges consider the entire transcript, they look for trends, so an upward trend from a weaker freshman year can be positive, but consistent strong performance throughout high school is ideal.
What’s even better than a source? A real life person who you can see every day, A-Da grades 9th – 12th counselor Kristi Chamberlain, has taken the time to give a professional outlook on freshman year.
If that’s not convincing enough; seniors Lorena Perez, Caleb Jahner, Aisha Fall, Anabel Barnwell, and Sophia Puentes, who all went to Palmer all four years of high school, have some advice and knowledge for our freshmen.
Even the seniors you see everyday have made mistakes that would go back and re-do, they were freshmen once too. Some of their regrets might be a bit too relatable.
“Don’t skip gym, it’s not worth it.” -Aisha Fall
Many teachers and counselors have dozens of stories of students that didn’t make the best choices, and those decisions coming back to bite them a few years later. Many students have slacked off in their 9th and 10th grades before they realize how important it is to get good grades and gain credits. Many are then scrambling to get their GPA’s up in order to apply to certain colleges, but they also find themselves having to spend a crazy amount of time catching up on courses through the digital online credit recovery courses. This is a lot of their free time gone.
Not all bad habits have a heavy consequence, but in this situation, they can. If you have bad attendance, it can in turn hurt your grades. Bad grades can then hurt your GPA which can hurt your chances of possibly getting into a college that you desire.
It’s well known, bad habits are incredibly hard to break if you let them become second nature, don’t let bad habits from this year continue to affect you, your grades, or your high school experience.
“I have heard that it takes 30 days to create a habit and even more to break is, so I would say they are pretty hard to break. With will power, reminders and giving yourself grace though, you can do it. I think if a person wants something bad enough, you can obtain it.” -Mrs. Chamberlain
It’s common to hear from seniors the biggest distraction freshmen year was the newfound freedoms, getting sucked into the cycle of skipping class or hanging around the wrong crowd, it’s not worth it in the long end, don’t skip class or not do an assignment just because your lazy, you’ll regret it when you don’t graduate on time.
It’s also common to hear that the first year of high school will be overwhelming and incredibly difficult, or that it’s impossible to get good grades and your grades will drop significantly from middle school.
Don’t let yourself stress about your GPA or if you’re getting the right credits, just focus on passing your classes, take as many honors classes as you can, their easiest freshmen year. Don’t assume going to the tutoring center makes you seem dumb, use it to your advantage to get all the tutoring you can fit into your schedules. Use resources like the tutoring center, counselors, future center, and the library to your advantage.
As important as school is, you are more important. It’s critical that in the advance to academic greatness, you take care of your mental health too. It’s important for everyone to find a balance in their lives between school, work, and play or things you enjoy. Having good attendance can help students get to this point. Counselors have many students coming in their office that have struggled with attendance that has put them behind. It’s hard to get caught up when you are lost and don’t know what’s going on.
“I often suggest to focus on a few classes at a time or a few assignments at a time. Sometimes if we try to do too much, it’s overwhelming and easy to just want to give up.” -Mrs. Chamberlain
Although everything may feel overwhelming, your classes may be moving too fast, your friends may be growing up and growing apart, you may find yourself in more situations where you have to choose to do the right thing, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. One mistake, or even a handful of them doesn’t have to be the end of your life. Work through it, learn from it, and grow above it. Just know you’ll think back and laugh once you’re a senior too.
Starting high school doesn’t have to be stressful. Take everyday one thing at a time, one assignment at a time. Make sure to be involved with the school, create a strong community of people to surround you and influence you to do better for yourself and follow you through high school and even after you graduate. Join sports and clubs and lock in.
“It may be a little basic but it’s true; stay focused, it goes by super fast even though it may not seem like it right away, don’t take advantage of the freedoms.” -Lorena Perez
