Starting May 24, 2025, I will no longer be a freshman. Throughout my first year in high school, I picked up many things, and here are some that I have learned.
Starting high school as a freshman feels like jumping face-first into the shallow end. I never really realized that my activity-filled years at Gretna Middle School would rapidly morph into work-filled, slow hours at Gretna High School. No one necessarily prepared me for the workload that was intertwined with possessing the title of a high schooler. Although the year came with both difficult and simple work, juggling extracurriculars and school takes some time to adapt to. There is also an added pressure of getting all A’s and doing every bit of additional work and activity that you can to look good for college after high school.
Being an athlete at the high school level can be stressful and fulfilling. Especially as a freshman trying to navigate their way around the standard everyday tasks of high school. There is a very fine balance between school work and athletics. The practices are usually at least two hours after school, and when you get home around 5:30 or 6:00, it can be a challenge to get your jobs done at home or a workplace. After that, there’s time needed to do homework and get a good night’s sleep before leaping into the next day and the next practice.
My biggest advice on that subject is to focus on one thing at a time. If you’re at practice, don’t worry about the math homework due tomorrow. Don’t worry about that test you have to study for, focus on the moment and give your all in your sport. After your practice or your game, you can put all of your focus into your school work.
Finding your spot in high school athletics is also difficult. Finding the place where you belong and where you want to be takes time and work. You have to learn everyone’s wants and needs. You have to realize what kind of encouragement your team needs and how to truly bond to create the best connection possible. You also have to remember that being known as an underdog is not always a bad thing. Take it as a compliment and use it to your advantage.
If you do club sports as well, you’ll have it after your school season, but that also means that you will have a busy schedule most of the year, and you’ll have to adapt and connect with a whole other team about a week after school season ends. Having drive and perseverance are traits that are incredibly valuable in these situations. Using those qualities will help you through and after high school, no matter what it is.
Get involved with as many clubs as you can. Getting a lot of people that you have built a strong relationship with helps out during your high school years, but especially your freshman year. Knowing people who will be by your side in every way is important when you are learning the new quirks of a new buidling, and largely when you need help finding your way around, and when you need advice or just someone to talk to in general.
Gretna Media for me was a great way to be involved in my freshman year with a small group of people that I knew would be there for me and help me through not only the class, but the rest of school. I have shared a laugh, written many stories and gone on a couple of trips with them.
I was also a part of GHS’s volleyball team, and it was an amazing experience to have a team that helped you through your hardships and supported you if you had the worst game ever or had the best game of your life. Connecting with girls that you might have never seen before opened up my eyes, as well as a majority of the girls on the team. I have also decided to join the student council and be a part of yet another group of great people next year for my second year of high school, and, from what I have heard, it should be another amazing environment to join.
At the end of the day, the best advice I could truly ever give someone who is just starting high school is to be kind to everyone around you. You never know what someone is going through, and sometimes the people with the biggest smiles can be fighting the biggest battles. You never know how far a little kindness can bring you.
