As the new school year began, Olympia welcomed its next freshman class for their first day of High School. Once again, halls were filled with the sound of sneakers hitting the floor, busy chatter, nervous laughter, and along with that– new faces. The Oracle got a chance to interview four freshmen about their thoughts on the Titan lifestyle.
The First Impression
We all remember those moments before stepping onto a new campus. Whether it was texting your friends the night before to calm your nerves, packing new pens and notebooks into your backpack, saying your last goodbyes to your parents, and finally making it to your first ever class at Olympia. Most of the freshmen interviewed felt confident, as Mazen Amer pointed out “everyone was very welcoming”. Guilherme Reuther was confused at first because he didn’t know where his classes were, but later in the day “found it really easy to navigate around the school, since all the buildings and hallways are numbered.” Kaitlyn Reedy mentioned that she was “excited to have a social life again”, and Paisley McCoy added that “it was scary at first. But once I got here, I got more confident, because I picked these classes myself.”
Expectations
After seeing dozens of teenage dream movies with classic American High Schools with stereotypical groups of mean jocks, nerdy book lovers, fashionistas, and artsy kids, most of us definitely kept that picture as a standard of what to expect from High School. Although, after actually going there, those stereotypes usually become more of a joke, than a confirmed reality. Let’s see what our Freshmen expected from High School and whether it turned out to be true or otherwise.
Amer, and Reuther stated that they expected it to be more scary. Reedy also pointed out that she expected our Seniors to be “mean and humongous”. Nevertheless, all of them agreed that everyone turned out to be “surprisingly nice”, and Reuther already made friends among each of the classes. McCoy, on the other hand, had “pretty high expectations for Olympia”, she added that she can neither confirm nor deny if they turned out to be true, she is “still waiting for more fun activities”.
Favorite Classes
As to their favorite classes, our Freshmen divided into two groups. The boys agreed that they preferred Journalism and Business Entrepreneurship, due to them being easier than other classes and the teachers being nice. Props to Mrs. Preston and Ms. Aponte. On the flip side, the girls leaned more towards academic challenge, McCoy’s favorite class is Algebra 2, led by our very own Mr. Olley, she mentioned that “it comes naturally to me. It’s like a fun activity for my brain”. Reedy added that her favorite class is AP Human Geography, led by Mr. Puchein. For Reedy, it’s “a good way to start the morning”. AP Human Geography helps her ”lock in” for the day because she “like[s] to see people actually working in class, it makes it easier because there’s no distractions or people messing around”.
Transition and Struggle
Of course, there’s no change without challenge, our Freshmen unanimously agreed that their biggest struggle was transitioning from the Middle School sleep schedule, to the early High School one. McCoy explained that “Middle School starts at 9:30, and now it’s 7:20”, and this abrupt change of schedule leaves her “just hoping for the weekend”. She also mentioned that “there [is] much more work in High School” and that “in Middle School it was easy and quickly done”, while Amer disagreed and said that “the amount of work is about the same”. No matter the difference, both groups came to the conclusion that waking up early is the worst part about being a High Schooler, and wish for no more early mornings.
Activities
Surprisingly enough, our Freshman crew turned out to be a very athletic one. Reedy is already on Olympia’s Volleyball team and plans to continue playing. She mentioned that she is “really excited to go to the games” and plans to join 6th Man and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. McCoy mentioned that she wants to try out for our Titan Soccer Team and later, Flag Football. Amer and Reuther both plan to join Olympia’s Wrestling team, and Reuther also wants to try out for Track and Field next year. It is so inspiring to see the new students being dedicated to their passions and we wish the best of luck to them at tryouts. Hopefully, they will become the newest addition to our Titan Athletes and make all of us proud.
Future Aspirations
Lastly, it is always important to think about the future. Our Freshmen shared their dream future careers: Reedy and McCoy both always had an interest in the medical field and agreed on their aspirations to become labor and delivery nurses. Reedy is also considering becoming a second grade teacher, and wants to pass on knowledge to our future generations. Amer, on the other hand, wants to become a day trader, and Reuther has the most interesting career aspiration! He plans to become a professional fighter, hence the wrestling passion, or a welder.
What interesting and inspiring individuals our new students are! Let’s all make an effort to pass on our Titan Pride and show them the Olympia Lifestyle. We, at the Oracle, are sure that there is great success awaiting for them and our wonderful Olympia staff and teachers will help them uncover their full potential. Here’s to the class of 2028!!
