Hannah Marsh 2021 

What’s something you wish you knew before you went into high school?

“I wish I knew how to manage my time better, like how to keep up on homework, and write down things on a planner. That always helps” 

Some ways Marsh likes to deal with stress is playing the piano to calm her down or going to Flight ( Choir Program at AHS ), things that make her not think about the stress and clear her head. “High school friendships will come and go but the real ones will stick by you no matter what.”

She says the main ones will like who you are always. Talking to your teachers is a very good way to keep your grades and asking for help, definitely managing your time is a very big thing. Hannah says when someone is bullying you, you should be confident in yourself and tell a teacher, seniors can be kind of harsh on freshmen sometimes and they need to realize that we were there too and they need to help instead of bullying.

“Something I had trouble with as a freshman is definitely self confidence,” she said. “I saw seniors being good at things I wanted to be good at and that made me jealous that they were where I wanted to be.” 

She says I realized talking to them and understanding how they got there is where I need to start and putting in some hard work. Coming back from online learning online school will definitely be a challenge, but if we get used to it in 6 months she thinks we can get used to coming back, during these hard times Hannah says her parents and mentors helped her through high school in general.

“My advice for freshmen is to be present and enjoy the moment because it goes so fast like in freshman year I wasn’t going to say it goes fast but now I’m already in senior year applying to colleges, now I’m like dang I wish I could go back and enjoy some of those moments” 

After high school, Marsh is planning to get a music education and be a choir or band director at a school and teach piano on the side.

Shelbie Killough 2021 

What’s something you wish you knew before going into high school?

“That these four years go by super fast and not all friendships in high school are going to last” 

Killough likes to deal with stress by writing it down and taking breaks so she doesn’t over work herself. Things to keep your grades in shape is to always ask for help and stay late if you really need help and let your teacher know. Always talk to a teacher if you are in danger or are getting bullied, some seniors can be mean but she doesn’t feel like all seniors are mean to freshmen.

Something Killough would have trouble with as a freshmen is asking for help, she always thought she was dumb or not smart enough so she would keep to herself until her grades dropped so she started asking and it helped her a lot more. She feels like freshmen nowadays are too stressed about fitting in, she says “In the long run everyone is fitting in there own way, everyone’s special and unique so get over it”. –

She feels that when we go back to school it will be hard for freshmen because they haven’t really been in high school before, so they might have trouble understanding where the classes are. Someone who helped Shelbie get through high school in general is her mom, she helped her when she was stressed out. She says “always ask for help when you need it, it’s not cool when you don’t understand and your grades start slipping.” 

Killough’s plans for after high school are going to EvCC for a few years then going to a university and becoming a special needs teacher for elementary.

Adam Collins 2021

What’s something you wish you knew before going into high school?

“To always be yourself and don’t let anyone change who you are as a person” 

Something Collins had trouble with when he was a freshmen was she missed the first 3 weeks of school because he broke his collarbone and couldn’t be in school so he was super behind, that helped him in a way learn how to catch up very quickly though. He sees a lot of freshmen have trouble with math, and that it’s going to be hard to especially learn from home sense that’s supposed to be your clear space. From personal experience he’s had trouble with online learning and will definitely be hard because we’re gonna have to learn how to deal with covid and things like that.

Collins says music helped him survive high school and John Grabowski was the person who really helped him and showed him to be successful. A good experience he remembers in high school is being a part of the choir program and the band program, He loves the people in the class and is so comfortable with them.

Some advice Collins has for freshmen, he said “Rule number one, stick with your friends you’re gonna learn who they are and stick with them. Rule number two, go to class don’t skip just do your work even though you want to do other stuff just do it you will get and you will get better at it. Rule number three, have fun and try to make class fun,  make something interesting as much as you can to keep you focused” 

Collins’ plan after high school is to stay in Washington and study in music education.

Sierra Schmitz 2021

What’s something you wish you knew before going into high school?

“I wish someone told me no one cares what you do or what you wear because really no one does but I always thought they did” 

Schmitz says to always turn in your work on time so that it’s easier for you and your teacher. She also likes to talk to her mom or go on walks to help her clear her mind of stress with school, talking to people can really help clear your mind if something is going on or if you’re just having trouble. She thinks when we go back to school it’s going to be very different and that it’s going to be super weird with social interaction.

As a freshman she had a hard time making friends and just wanted to be friends with people from her middle school, she joined a cross country team and drama and that really helped her step out of her comfort zone and meet more people. She thinks it’s going to be hard for freshmen to learn in a classroom, because they have already learned half of freshman year online.

Family and friends helped Schmitz get through high school in general, she feels that people should go more out of there comfort zone and talk to more people. For Freshman advice, she says “as scary as it is, try to make new friends in different social groups so you won’t be alone and have people to talk too.” -Sierra.S

Schmitz’ plan after high school is to get her AA at EvCC and explore her options.