High school is among the best years of one’s life, where jocks rule over the school and everyone looks like they came out of a Vogue magazine. That’s what the movies will have you believe, and what incoming freshmen tend to worry about. In reality, moving into high school comes with many doubts and questions which cause students to have exaggerated expectations.
Some significant concerns of those entering high school are often about friendship and drama, where the question of how easy or difficult it is to build new relationships is constantly dwelled upon.
“I thought that I’d have a hard time seeing new people, but I kind of made more friends, and there’s [also] less drama. Well, there is still drama but because it’s such a big school it isn’t as impactful as it was in middle school,” said Emma Beatty ‘27.
Throughout many movies depicting the high school experience, different stereotypical cliques often saturate the plot. With each group having their own interests and hobbies, there is a clear distinction between types of students.
“I thought there was going to be way more of a hierarchy, where there’s popular people that everybody knows and they are up here, and then there are like the lower [people down here]. But when I came to high school, it was literally the opposite because now there’s so many people compared to middle school that you don’t know and everyone is mixed,” said Sara Geraldes ‘27.
Likewise, newcomers not only worry about relationships but also about the amount of work they expect to receive in high school. Hollywood has successfully created two stereotypes of a high schooler’s life in which they either drown in homework or have no homework at all.
“I thought that the workload was going to be insane, like how it is in movies. Although [teachers] do give a good fair amount of work, it isn’t as much as I thought it was going to be. [I thought we would have] to read a book every night for English and then have ten pages of homework for math,” said Kaylee Christel ‘27.
Sometimes the pressure put by an outside voice, such as family, teachers, or friends, as well as the pressure put by oneself causes these feelings of uncertainty, especially when taking such a big step like going into high school.
“I was expecting [high school] to be a really mature place where I could grow and experience new things, but it’s like a lot of people have stayed the same since middle school and nothing really changes, even though everyone said it would. I also expected my classes to be harder especially because my teachers would say, ‘Oh, we need to prepare you for high school because they are not going to let anything slide,’ so I thought it would definitely be harder but it’s not,” said Alanna Edwards ‘28.
Ultimately, the high school experience will vary for each person, but one thing many EHS students have in common are the uncertainties they encountered prior to entering freshman year. The media will have their own ideas of what an average high schooler’s life is like, but most of it is far from reality.
When looking back, similarities when transitioning from elementary to middle school persist. It leaves room to wonder if in the senior year of high school teachers will claim that they must prepare their students for college.
Change is an unending constant. Whether grades, jobs, relationships, houses, or even entire countries, change is bound to also include some level of self-doubt and, so, begs the question: If change is inevitable, why bother being scared?
Life changes over time–getting used to the ‘new’ shouldn’t always feel so new.