What is something you thought was important in freshman year that is less important now?

I thought it was super important to have everything figured out, but I realized that you cannot predict the future.  

What is something you find important now that was not important to you when you started high school?

One thing that has become important to me is taking pictures with my friends doing everyday things that we love. I want to have photos to look back on when we are older. 

Looking back, what changed or stayed the same from freshman year to now?

I still love sitting outside at lunch with my friends every day and talking with them. 

What’s one piece of advice you would give yourself freshman year?

Don’t be afraid to get involved and try new things; that is how you make friends and find things you love. 

What’s something you do now that your freshman-year self would be mad about?

My freshman self would probably be disappointed that I never got better at math.

What is something you thought was really important in freshman year that is less important now?

To clarify, this is not to say you shouldn’t care at all, but really, I know now that grades really aren’t as important as I thought they were. Whether your future includes college or not, sincerely, so much of high school is about gaining experience within and outside of the classroom.

If there’s someone like me who’s going to read this and think about how much they care about grades for their college application, I’m just going to say that colleges are looking for well-rounded people. Yes, grades matter, but being a person matters, too. If you cannot find the time, make the time to prioritize your health and happiness.

What is something you find important now that was not important to you when you started high school?

Go to sleep. I should’ve slept so much more. This year a lot of my habits finally caught up to me and I have never had a more miserable time due to health issues from sleep deprivation. Now is the best time to figure out how to maintain balance in your life, so use this time to develop habits and strategies that support all of your goals, including sleep.

Looking back what is something that changed or stayed the same from freshman year to now?

I think this one is definitely easy to think about COVID. During freshman year, most people were still masked up. I think returning from COVID, there’s been a lot of goals regarding renewing old traditions and events that were lost during COVID. This has definitely led to developing new events that prioritize community-building. Basically, I think there was a revival and growing pursuit of creating a sense of community in our school.

What’s one piece of advice you would give yourself freshman year?

Sleep.

What’s something you do now that your freshman year self would be mad about?

I still procrastinate like my life depends on it. It’s a horrible habit and I suffer the consequences of it ridiculously often. I’ll continue working on breaking down that habit through college and most likely the rest of my life, but progress is progress.

What is something you thought was really important in freshman year that is less important now?

One thing that isn’t as important as I thought was committing to a specific activity early on. Even though freshman year is the best for trying out activities, you can and should try out and join activities throughout your high school career.

What is something you find important now that was not important to you when you started high school?

One thing that turned out to be more important has been having a set of people you can rely on as friends. They may not be your best friends and you may not talk to them often, but having support when you need it is crucial.

What’s one piece of advice you would give yourself freshman year?

Use your time wisely. It’s your most valuable resource. Don’t spend time with people you don’t enjoy or in activities that you hate. It seems obvious but it’s really easy to fall into those traps.

What’s something you do now that your freshman year self would be surprised about?

My freshman year self would be very surprised that I joined a team sport

What is something you thought was really important in freshman year that is less important now? 

I thought that being popular in my freshman year was really important because I wanted people to see me as someone important, but then I realized it’s not so much about being popular as it is finding the right people who think you’re important for who you are and not having to change yourself for that.

What is something you find important now that was not important to you when you started high school?

School, grades, hard work. I really didn’t care back in freshman year about anything. I’m definitely experiencing some senioritis right now, but in the past year grades have gotten really important for me, especially when you find a field you care about.

Looking back, what is something you did that would make you cringe now?

In freshman year, I used to have a random sense of humor, like just not funny, completely random, middle school humor and every time I hear that now, I cry a little bit.

How have your interests/hobbies changed/stayed the same from freshman year to now?

I used to be obsessed with video games and I still play them, but they’ve kind of balanced out with drumming. I’m getting a lot more into percussion and marching band and drumming. It’s really fun now to find something where I can just get out of that digital world and being able to perform in front of people is super cool.

What is one piece of advice you would give to your freshman self?

Think a little bit before you make decisions, because it does come back and get you when you’re older.

What’s something you do now that freshman you would be shocked about?

I go out with my friends a lot more. I used to be totally shut in when I was in middle school. Didn’t go outside and avoided it as much as possible. But once I got through freshman year I started realizing how important bonds with other people are.

What was you dream career as freshman? Has it changed?

I wanted to be a blackjack dealer, and now I want to be in music education. So yeah—different. I don’t know where the blackjack idea came from but I really wanted to do that.

What is something that was really important to you in freshman year that is less important now? 

Being around with my friends. Now, it’s not as important because it ended up being a distraction through Freshman year. So now it’s more important to be focused in class. It’s not as important to be seated with your friends because sometimes it can be a distraction.

What is something that is important to you now that was not as important when you started high school?

Not worrying about what other people think about you. You go into high school thinking there are a lot of different cliques and groups of people. Where you can just find a good group of friends and not worry about being the center of attention. So I think just finding a group of people and just being yourself. 

Looking back, what is something you did that would make you cringe now?

Sneaking into the basketball gym during lunch every day during freshman and sophomore year and we would get yelled at every time for it because we weren’t supposed to be leaving the lunch room. I think it was just a stupid thing I used to do. And just running around the hallways being a disruption.